March 16, 2006

Head Coach John Thompson III
On Northern Iowa
"There's a lot to like about them, they're a veteran team that's been here before. This is their third year in a row playing in the tournament. And you watch them and over and over, they don't beat themselves. They are a very confident group, not in a negative manner. They have a knack for getting what they want out of situations. Poise is the best way to articulate it. They're a very poised team. They have answers, counters to different offensive sets, in many ways it's like Marquette when you scout them. Some teams you look at and can say, `ok, they're going to run these four plays...but you know what they'll come at you with. They just play, they have reads, they do different things and different sets it almost seems for each game. In that way, it's probably similar to Marquette in the way they'll switch it up. But they're very much different than Marquette. I say all that, but they're not that much like Marquette. But [Northern Iowa] has versatility."

On this year's Georgetown team's lack of NCAA experience
"I don't think our guys are distracted. Having the opportunity to play in tournament is special so in many ways you do have to enjoy it. This is very much a privilege, something that we've earned. That was more so for Sunday, after the pairings come out. And (the team) understands that. We've talked about it all year, you want the opportunity to play for a championship. And to do that, you have to play well, and our guys realize that. We're not satisfied just having the opportunity to be here, although we're very excited about having that opportunity. As you progress and get closer to game time, you just take the same approach we always have for every game."

Is Northern Iowa's three-straight appearances an advantage for them?
"It helps [Northern Iowa] that they've been here. No doubt. That helps to their hardness, that helps to their understanding and not getting caught up in the hoopla - it's positive hoopla but hoopla nonetheless. You get that hunger once you've been here. You understand what it takes to win and you get that hunger to have success. So yes, it is an advantage."

Does the quality of the Big East schedule prepare you for the NCAA Tournament?
"Once you get to this time of the year, the teams fortunate to still be playing... you're going to be playing against good teams. No matter what number is next to your name, you're playing against a very good team. A team that's coached well, you're going to playing against a team that's playing well at this point. Within the Big East.. it's a pretty good conference. One of the strength's of our league - and I said this all year - is that you see varying styles of play within the Big East. We're not the type of conference where everyone is a fast-breaking team, everyone is pressing. You see some teams that are very deliberate in the half court offense, you see some teams that try to get up and down the floor and push the tempo, you see some teams that are very guard oriented, some teams that are interior oriented. You're playing against good players, against good coaches and all of that is true, but you're seeing various styles. Teams from our conference have been exposed through the year against teams with different styles of play. I think that will help teams in our conference, we'll see."

Sophomore Forward Jeff Green
What problems does Northern Iowa present?
"They have some pretty good shooters, a lot of plays, you can't cover all of them, they set a lot of on and off the ball screens, their post presence is pretty good, they have the two leading rebounders in the [Missouri Valley] conference, and that's something you have to take away from them. Their pretty good at that and their guard play is pretty good. Every team is good that's in the tournament and you have to realize that every game is going to be tough."

No one on team has played in a tourney game, is it a negative being green or positive being hungry because you have not been there before?
"You have to take it as a positive, we can always say that we were apart of a program that got back to the tournament, especially being seniors. We put a lot of hard work this year, and I'm happy for my teammates and also happy for the program, to get back to this place where we've been trying to get back to for awhile, and we're just trying to take it all in stride and do our best job and do what the coaches want us to do."

Sophomore Center Roy Hibbert
On the toughness of the Big East Conference and how it prepares teams for the tournament
"It's a fight every night but we play against top 25 teams almost every other week in the Big East, so we care prepared for this tournament, and most importantly we are here to win not here to participate, we are here to win every game and go onto the championship and win."

Senior Forward/Guard Darrel Owens
On the toughness of the Big East Conference and how it prepares teams for the tournament
"We play against best competition in our conference, and having two number one seeds come out of our conference it says a lot, and it says there are no nights off in our conference, you have to take every game serious, we took every game serious, and everything coach said we were going to do in the games against the teams in our conference they came out and did. They came out playing hard all the way down from South Florida up to Connecticut. So it only prepares us for to prepare for the NCAA tournament. We can always say we haven't seen this, or we haven't seen that, but we've seen about almost everything a team can throw at you. So I think we are prepared and will play our best."

How has the team coped with Coach Thompson's family medical problems and what has the team done to try and lighten load?
"First thing we tried to do as his players is try and take as much pressure off him as possible, you know we were all aware of what was going on at home, and its enough for one person to go through, and we just tried to take a little stress off of him and that's try to win ball games, and he's been with us everyday and tried to balance two things at once so the least we can do is play our best basketball and is try to games for him, because the most important thing for him at that point was his family, but you know we had good stretch. During that time period we all came together and talked about it and put our best food forward and played I think the best basketball of the season during that time."

Senior Forward Brandon Bowman
What do you take in tourney to make sure this isn't a one and done?
"The coaches emphasize that this is a time of the year where you play your best ball, like you just said its one and done, Its basically new season, everyone starts 0-0 trying to reach the NCAA championship, we realize as a team that we have to put our best foot forward, like (Darrel Owens) said earlier, "at all times," from practice from shoot-around to watching film, just emphasizing all the important facts and all the important things that come along with winning. When it comes down to the games you just have to play hard. For me, (Darrel Owens), and other seniors this is our first, last, and only opportunity, and for the young guys on the team, they'll probably be back but we all realize how important this is and how hard we have to play."

Have you guys settled in to game mode yet and gotten the distraction out of your mind?
"We've been in Game mode for quite some time now, coach's have emphasized this game, It's win or go home, every is pretty focused on the team, we had a good practice, hope it carries over to tomorrow and into tomorrow's game."

On how long it will take to get jitters out
"I think for all of us first couple of minutes will be very aggressive, we know we have a lot of energy that we have to get out and then we will settle down from there and do what we have to do."