Elite 8 Media Conference
Q. For Coach Davis, I was wondering if King and JR played these guys three times during the year, if you've had any communications with them about just trying to get whatever background or scouting on Saint Peter's.
HUBERT DAVIS: I haven't had any conversations with them yet, but King and JR are two of my best friends, and our relationship when we played and our enjoyment of playing together, but not just playing together as teammates but just our relationship, and I'm sure that we'll have conversations.
Walker Miller, who played for King this year, stopped by the team meal last night. It was just great being able to see him and give him a hug. Even though he had a terrific year for Monmouth this year, he's always a part of Carolina basketball.
Q. What do you guys know about Saint Peter's right now? What jumps out about some of the peskiness on defense and how they have a lot of connection in the backcourt where they're able to find each other? Even when they're trapped they can still find each other.
RJ DAVIS: I haven't really -- I saw highlights of them play against Kentucky. I haven't really -- they just played the game last night, and they're a good team, so yeah.
CALEB LOVE: Same thing. We've seen bits and pieces, but that's why we've got practice today. We'll go over them today.
Q. Everybody in our world loves to talk about seeding. They're a 15 -- you're already laughing. Do those mean -- especially now, do they mean even less these days than maybe they did 10 years ago? Did they ever mean anything?
ARMANDO BACOT: Well, when the tournament started, that was one of the first things Coach told us, was he never looked at seeding and he never really cared. It's kind of funny how it played out now, even a 15 playing against each other because he never cared about seeding and he never once remembered what seed he was when he was here, so yeah.
HUBERT DAVIS: No, I did. I had them over to the house, the Selection Show on that Sunday, to find out who we were playing and the bracket and the region that we were going to be in, and the first thing that I told them is that I've never cared about seedings. The four years that I was at Carolina, I could not remember what seed we were. I just knew that we were in the NCAA Tournament and we were going against teams that were really good basketball teams that any given day can beat you if you don't play your best. That was my communication to them.
It really doesn't matter. Saint Peter's is an unbelievable team. They have an outstanding coaching staff, and it's a team that has won 10 games in a row and they're playing with a confidence and a toughness that has put them in the final eight.
At the end of the day, they've beaten two teams that we've lost to. So as I said before, tomorrow will be our toughest game of the season, but we're very excited about the challenge of playing an excellent Saint Peter's team.
Q. Hubert, you've played on and coached some special teams. Is there a unifying quality that those teams have had, and does this team have it?
HUBERT DAVIS: Yeah, I think that you have to have a togetherness and a sense of health within the locker room, a part of the team built on relationships, built on leadership.
One of the things that throughout the course of the year I felt like we needed is we needed an extension of the coaching staff, we needed a leader. One of the beautiful things that has emerged this year has not just been one leader, it's been a host of leaders.
It's just Leaky brings something to the table, Brady, RJ, Caleb, Armando, Kerwin, Puff, Dontrez. Everybody has brought together their piece, and collectively it has brought together a health, a togetherness about this team that has put us in a position to play our best basketball over the last two months. It's been really fun to see.
Q. Hubert, when you're talking about Saint Peter's late last night, you mentioned connected and connectivity. It's kind of become the modern basketball compliment. I wonder if you can speak -- I'm sure you haven't been able to study them that much at this point, but give us a sense of what that term means these days and why that is such a compliment.
HUBERT DAVIS: That everybody is on the same page. They're connected in terms of their preparation, their practice and their play. They understand where they want to go and how to get there. They've identified what allows them to be successful, and everybody understands that, and everyone has accepted their role in a place where they feel like it's beneficial for them to be the best team that they can be.
In terms of being connected, that's what I mean. Everybody is locked in on the same page, and they understand where they want to go and what they want to do.
Q. Armando, despite a massive size disadvantage, Saint Peter's forced five turnovers on Zach Edey. They never let him really dominate and take control. Have you gotten a chance to see some of the looks they gave him in the post?
ARMANDO BACOT: No, not really. I haven't really got that much of a chance, but I know they've got good bigs, and they've got great guards, too, that's good at digging and creating turnovers. And that's kind of what they've been hanging their hat on.
I know I've got to be smart down there and just be alert and aware of everything around me.
Q. Caleb, I saw a lot of tweets and crazy things since yesterday. What's it been like since yesterday for you after the big game?
CALEB LOVE: You know, it was exciting to see. But this morning when I woke up, I'm focused on the next game. I had my fun last night. We got the win; that's all I cared about. And we move on to the next.
