It’s almost game time for the four teams left in the hunt for the NCAA men’s basketball championship.
The semifinals are set for Saturday at State Farm Stadium with Cinderella North Carolina State (26-14) squaring off against Purdue (33-4) at 3:09 p.m. and first-time Final Four comer Alabama (25-11) meeting defending champion UConn (35-3) at 5:49 p.m.
Here’s what some of the parties were saying 24 hours before the big games:
N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts
“We have less cameras on us now. They film each other every day. That changes. It used to be different. When you got Snapchat, Instagram, these guys are so used to being in front of a camera. They’re OK with it. We’re going to enjoy it because I’ve asked them to. I talked about yesterday being 50-50, business and pleasure. Today we should be 75 or so. If you see somebody that’s having too much fun, it’s supposed to be 75% today business and 25% fun. But I think our guys enjoy it. I’m happy to see some of those guys. I have to go back and look at a couple of ’em because I’m not sure they should be dancing in front of the camera because a couple of those guys can’t dance (smiling).”
N.C. State coach D.J. Burns on staying focused
“I think that goes back to having the coach that we have. He told us when we first got here, ‘Go enjoy it. When you get on the court, I need your focus 100%.’ He’s done a good job of reeling us back in when we need it and letting us enjoy it when we’re not. We need to be focused right now at the moment.”
“Coming out from the triangle you got UNC, Duke and North Carolina State all right there. So basketball was something that was constantly watched at my house between all three of those schools. I will say I never liked UNC ever, just put that out there. Coming out of high school the recruitment for me was slow and N.C. State at the time was not recruiting me. I knew a of of guys that were going there, knew some of the coaches and everything just from being from the area. Everybody has their own path and that wasn’t the time for me. And I would just say coming back after the whole journey and everything like that, there’s been a lot of love and people showing me respect for my grind and my journey to get back to where I am now.”
Purdue coach Matt Painter on Zach Edey
“Obviously, he’s our pillar, the guy we work around in what we do. But it’s not something from an attention-seeking that I think he likes. He’s gotten more comfortable answering questions and getting that kind of attention. At the end of the day, he just wants it to be a team game. He wants the attention to go to everybody. He does a great job of facilitating that, being humble. That’s refreshing. Who doesn’t want to play with a great player but also a great player that’s unselfish and humble like he is? He’s learned to take some things in stride and understand it’s his value but it’s also the value of our team.”
Purdue’s Fletcher Loyer on his favorite postseason moment
“I have two. I’d say hearing that buzzer against Tennessee, knowing all the work we put in, we got to the Final Four. One of our goals at the start of the year, something we worked really hard to do. Obviously we didn’t get to do it last year. That and then coming home off the airplane in West Lafayette, seeing all those fans there on a Sunday night means a lot to us. We know us playing hard and us winning games, they like that. They cheer us on, support us, win or loss. Kind of putting on a show for them and them welcoming us when we got back.”
Alabama coach Nate Oats on Bobby Hurley
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him giving me a shot. I feel like he’s a mentor of mine. He’s one of the best point guards to ever play. I learned a lot about point guard play in the two years I was with him. The way we want to play, we’ve had great guard play, we’ve done a pretty good job putting guards into the NBA. Feel like I did learn a lot in those two years. We’ve stayed in touch on different things throughout the years. We’ve kind of stayed in touch on he’s had some really good teams. We’ve talked about them. Sometimes one of us is on a losing streak, kind of pump the other one up. We always see each other on the recruiting trail. How is recruiting going? When we played Arizona here, they allowed us to use their gym to practice in. There’s a reason that their family has won big in basketball at all levels. Shoot, I learned a lot of drills from Bobby. He got ’em from his dad and from his brother. We still use a lot of the drills I learned from Bobby. They’re good. His dad probably has the best drills in basketball. The two of those, Danny and Bobby, learned a lot from their dad. I was able to learn a little bit, a lot, from Bobby, and Danny as well.”
Alabama guard Marks Sears on the difference between the MAC and SEC
“I say the guard play in the MAC is very similar to the SEC. We have great guards in the MAC. The only thing different would be the big play. There’s not going to be a five-man in the back that can switch onto a point guard and stay in front. I would say that’s the biggest difference in the MAC and SEC. SEC you have versatile big guys that can stay in front of the guards.”
UConn coach Dan Hurley on big wins
“I think a lot of really smart basketball people that watch us play have an appreciation for how well we’ve played. Coming into the year, I don’t think people on the outside expected us to play this well. I don’t know if you stuck a lie detector on me if I thought we’d play this well, especially in a tournament that’s so hard. It’s so hard to advance in this tournament and get to a Final Four. Look at the biggest brands, the best programs historically have a hard time getting to a Final Four in recent history. I get it. We’ve been brilliant. We’ve played great. The thing about this tournament, though, none of that matters on Saturday. We are going to have this two-hour game versus Alabama. If we’re not on point, we won’t play on Monday.”
UConn’s Tristan Newton on being a leader
“I would say I’m not that much of a vocal guy so I would say more by example. I would go out there and show the young guys what they need to do. But if they have a question I would definitely answer it. I’m not going to yell at you. I’m not going to do stuff like that. But if I see something wrong I’ll put you to the side or I’ll show you how to do it. I really credit Andre (Jackson) and last year he showed us and our new guys how UConn works. I feel like since he left I’ve taken over that role.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: NCAA Final Four: Players, coaches give thoughts before games
