��������

But I've had the chance. What the job. You OK? OK right there behind me though right there though. I don't got chrome on though, but I do got net on. You know what I mean. Damn, I played bat again. Stop, stop. You can't farm that one. OK, we'll get started with Auburn, uh, Coach Pearl, if you give us *** couple of opening thoughts, and then we'll go to some questions. Well, uh, I, I guess the first thought is there are 4 teams in the country that are left, and, and Auburn is one of them. And so just couldn't, we couldn't be happier. I want to congratulate Michigan State on an on an incredible year. We saw them in Maui, um, and they were good. Um, but I don't know that when we saw the Maui that you'd look at that team and say, hey, they're gonna go 17 and 3 in the Big 10, uh, and, and they did. The Big 10 was good and, and they, I thought Tom and I taught before the games. Our teams kind of mirrored each other, um, in, in many ways the way we defended how hard we play the way we try to, you know, dominate the backboard, so on and so forth, um. But I, you know, I felt going in that we were better. I felt like I had better players and I felt like we, you know, and that's just, that's not *** criticism at all. I told our guys right now we haven't beaten *** team yet that I thought was better than us and that's why we're the overall #1 seed and now we're going to the Final Four where there are 41 seeds and I think the the 4 teams that are advanced, I think there are 4 best teams in in the country that doesn't obviously always happen, so, um. Jana Broom stepped up again. Just, just keep doubting him and, and, and keep thinking that he's not going to be able to get to another gear and one of the reasons why I'm on him and my son Steven's on him pretty good is because I know what he's capable of. I know what he's capable of and, and he, he, he talked about delivering again, um, at the at the at at at the biggest moments, um, so, um, um, just last thing is just grateful for our fans. And and our families, um, because, uh, Auburn looked, uh, we, you know, we are *** football school we are don't ever forget that we're *** football school we are but we are in every we are also an everything school, OK, we're in everything school and, uh, and, and our fans uh represented really well, um, here in Atlanta. OK, questions for student athletes only at this point we'll go back row on the right on the aisle. Emmanuel Glade the rush sports talks. Johnny, talk to us about it. You come out of the locker room, the, the, the, the, my man, I'm sorry about that. Fans went crazy when you came out and you got that 3 pointer. How was that feeling for you to come back out and that's half? Um, you know, all glory to God, you know, uh, when I came back out when I hit 3 ball, I called him again, you know, uh, you gotta always call on him. He's gonna always deliver. Down front here on the right, Roselletier.org. Cheney, you and Dylan kind of had to man the paint while Janai was out. Uh, what did you guys do to kinda keep everything calm while while Janai was out and, and keep the lead, you guys, I don't think let it go back under double figures. Um, I mean, credit to Michigan State because they have, um, incredible bigs, um, they're real physical, um. And we just had to continue playing tough, you know, when Jan went out, my heart dropped, but he came to me and Dylan was like, you might have to finish this for us. So we were just like, right, we gotta lock in and continue being tough because I mean toughness wins in March. Back row on the left, Coach Suda Upadea Fox Five Atlanta, so much was made out of your comments first student athletes. Oh, student athletes, coach. Well, Shanna I'll ask you the same question. Coach yesterday mentioned that you guys were more the underdogs in Michigan State, that they, they weren't the underdogs and so much was made out of those comments. Was that like *** motivating thing for the team? I mean, you just said that you have, he just said he had the better players, but how did you guys take those comments was that kind of *** way to motivate you guys? Um, you know, Michigan State is *** historic, uh, amazing, great team, you know, Tom Mazos is *** Hall of Fame, uh, coach, you know, he wasn't lying, you know, um, that's *** great team we just played, and, um, it had to motivate us *** little bit, you know, um, obviously he knows the type of players he has, um, he knows how to motivate us, so, uh. You know, uh, shout out Michigan State again. Third row on the left on the out, uh, Michael G's War for Auburn. Jana, yesterday you told us, uh, after you scored 22 and 16, you felt like you didn't play well. Uh, what did you feel about your performance today? I played I Yeah. I mean, we won, so uh I'm happy we still dancing, man. All glory God again for, you know, allowing me to be uh healthy. Third row on the right. Mike Griffith from the Atlanta Journal Constitution for Taha, how do you think playing in the SEC prepared you for what you've seen, uh, in the postseason so far? um. Obviously the SEC this year was like *** gauntlet, so, uh, every night we had to be prepared, uh, you know, it wasn't no easy game so I just feel like coming into March, uh, especially *** tournament like this playing every team, you probably will, uh, we were prepared for it because we played against everybody. Far right on the 4th row. Jani, uh, Pat 40 from Sports Illustrated. I'm wondering what did you do when you went to the locker room? How were you checked out and what was your level of concern when you were back there? Uh, went to the locker room, you know, we have *** great support staff. Um, I checked my, my arm out, um, you know, doc said, you know, nothing's wrong, you're good, you know, um, nothing serious, so at that moment, you know, um, I just wanna help my teammates, um. And that's coming back out and playing and you know hitting one shot and you know grabbing the rebound man I I was gonna do it that was just, you know, sit on the sideline support and I was gonna do it so I came back out and uh you know Dilan needed *** break so I went there for *** couple minutes, um, just to help us win. Two questions here on the left, 4th row. Hi, good evening, William Bazzone for WGX1. This is *** question for Taha. Talk about that 3 that you hit in the second half with about 11 minutes to go on that little swing play and the crowd went crazy. Just what was going through your head in that moment? Um, definitely happy to see one go in, um, but just hearing the crowd and the energy, uh, you know, go up after that shot. I feel like that just changed the momentum of the game and just helped us keep the lead that we needed. First row on the far left. Bill Trochi sporting news. Uh, can you describe the feeling when you were standing on top of the ladder? Man, um. You know, words can't even describe it, you know, um, the fact that. This team, you know, uh, who's been working so hard, um, from the time we got here to, you know, even the time the first time I taught to coach, you know, this is *** part of our plans, and part of our goals, you know, um, and some type of ladder in front of, you know, all the Auburn fans still being there traveling and, uh, you know, witnessing as well and you know, looking down to see my teammates, you know, um, the whole Auburn family just means that means the world to me to, uh, kind of. Be able to deliver for, you know, our family. Back row on the far right. Jerry Humphrey the 3rd AL.com. This player, this question is for all the players. Um, Florida gave you guys your first conference loss this season. How motivated are you guys for that rematch in the Final Four? Chaney, why don't you take that one? Um, I mean, Florida has *** great team, um, and yeah, they beat, it was good enough to beat us at home, so. I mean we just gotta go game by game. I mean it's another um team in *** way, um, of us getting into national championships, so we gotta continue putting our head down, continue staying humble, continue staying hungry, um, and just go out there and play with great effort and great energy. One more for the student athletes on the 3rd row on the left. Michael Gins War poor Auburn. Cheney, uh, your coach has described you as the hardest working guy on this team. In fact, there's ***, there's *** machine in the weight room. I think you own every record in it. Can you, can you reflect on your work to this point and, and what it feels like to see all that hard work pay off? Is the machine. With like that like you live it's like the robotic back corner no well fact check Dylan did break my record, so he, he number 1 and I'm #2, and I think I'm #3. So and uh I'm like I'm like 8 and it's like Dylan Cheney Cheney Cheney Cheney Cheney Cheney Cheney but you know I mean. You know, this is awkward in my Lord and say Jesus Christ, he's blessed me with such *** wonderful opportunity, um, so I can't take it for granted, you know, that's why I work so hard, um, I just want to be the best player I can for my team. So that's why I put in all the hours and, you know, I haven't been playing as well as I wanna play, but you know I'm, I'm blessed with another opportunity to play against *** great team in San Antonio, so you know. Hopefully yeah like I said hopefully I show up, but no, he gonna show up it. He had no choice. Thank you guys. You guys can go back to you. You just eat it, you know, *** good job. You wanna take your, take your, take your tags. Come here. I know what I see right here man is up right now. They spoke your name up. I got your look. OK, let's start with Coach Pearl far left on the 4th row. Hi, Bruce, good evening. William Bazzone for WGXA News again. Just talk about in the second half. You had some guys in foul trouble, some injuries. I know you've been pretty You know, you've kept, you've kept an 8 man rotation for most of that series. Was there any point where you felt like you wanted to go deeper on the bench or or felt like you had to? Well, I think that when J and I went out, um, I immediately thought about Cheney and Dylan and neither one of them were in foul trouble, and so I knew that we were gonna be fine there. I might have to use some timeouts, um, to be able to just give them the rest that they needed. Um, and if Janiah had probably not come back out of the locker room, I probably would have gotten *** time out. Um, it was not gonna affect us defensively. Cheney and Dylan can, can, can obviously do what needs to be done on the defensive end and rebounding, and my guess is when Janiah was out we hung up, we hung in there because we probably made it difficult for Michigan State to score. Pat on the far right Bruce Pat 40 from Sports Illustrated. Did you get *** diagnosis from the team doctor was *** hyperextension or anything? And is there anything that he will be limited doing in the next week? Yeah, Pat, I didn't get any diagnosis, um, when Jani came out of the locker room. I hadn't talked to the doctor, but I just asked him, Are you, are you good to go? He said, I am. I said, Well, get your *** in there. And so, um, Dylan was ready to come out. Dylan was kind of calling the bench, and if you know I had not come out, I probably would have just, you know, called *** time out, um, you know, I think we won't really know until tomorrow and see what that what that was, um, you know, whether it's ***, *** slight hyperextension or whatever it was, obviously the doctors were able to examine it and determine that there was no damage. I bet you it'll be pretty sore tomorrow though. Front row right here on the right. Hey Bruce Robbie Lasella racketeer.org. There was *** lot of conversation yesterday about the, the building of your team, mixing portal and returners after now winning this game and seeing your guys battle through that injury and step up. What's that feeling like for you now? Well, I think that both are important. There's such *** foundation in this team with Dylan Cardwell or, or, um, Chris Moore, um, guys that have been there 4 and 5 years, then Janai has been there 3 years and um. You know, I think that, I think that, um, one of the things that they talked about yesterday was I told these guys, look, I'm gonna bring in good guys so you bring in Cheney Johnson, you bring in Denver Jones, you bring in Chad Bicker Maara, and it tells the guys that are left, he did bring in good guys and, and guys that were willing to make sacrifices and, you know, wanna try to become *** great team. So, uh, we'll, we'll continue to recruit really good high school players that wanna be coached and developed. And we'll continue to jump in the portal and, and, and get guys that, you know, want to be an Auburn man and play the way we play. Third row on the left on the aisle, uh, Michael Gins War or Auburn coach. Auburn basketball is *** program you built brick by brick since 2014. Uh, can you reflect on your conversations with, with your AD John Cohen about the things you've needed to get Auburn basketball back to this point, um. Got denied *** return, um, you know, you're gonna have the same challenge getting Taha to return probably next year. You know what is it that you need to build *** successful program in state's college basketball? Well, I think if, if you look at my staff, you'll, you'll notice that guys have been with me for *** long time. Steven Pearl's been with me his whole life. OK, and you know, Steven, um, has been on our staff for 811 years in lots of different ways. He could've left several times for head coaching positions, but he wanted to, he wanted to continue to help his father, and he stayed loyal to Auburn and you know, together we make *** we make *** great team, um, you know, Chad Pruitt's been with me since we got the job, right? Uh, Mike Burger Master came as ***. Graduate assistant coach out of being after being *** manager at Miami and I was able to demons he was able to demonstrate to me his knowledge and his feel for the offensive end and so we elevated Mike, got *** chance to actually be an assistant coach last year. I think Mike's with me 7 years. Ian Boor's been with me 67 or 8 years. Max Jeffrey started as *** manager, you know, he's now my director of basketball operations, probably been with me 8 or 9 years. So you, you don't see that continuity in staffs. Ira Bowman. You know, came from, you know, from Penn, and, um, you know, *** guy from Jersey probably come out to Auburn for *** few years, get *** couple good players. He hasn't left, you know, stayed here, raised his family here so Auburn is *** special place. It is *** very, very, it is, it's *** special place. I've liked every place I've lived, OK? I've never liked any place more than I've liked Auburn and, and, and, and, uh, so that's, that's how the program. Is where it's at because of this staff. I did not do it and then the support that I get from John Cohen, um, John has built, uh, the finest athletic staff since I've been there, OK? Now Jay Jacobs hired me and without Jay Jacobs I would not be at Auburn and Jay's one of my dear, dear friends. John has put together an absolutely our marketing guys uh are incredible our our business guys are incredible um you know the academic integrity, you know, and, and, and, and John Cohen was *** great baseball coach who understands what it takes and um. You know, he with his leadership and I think the other thing too is the trust that Doctor Roberts has in John Cohen. John Cohen runs our athletic program period and Doctor Roberts is our president, and he just is smart enough to let the experts do what they do and John has been great support to me and great advice and great counsel, and we've absolutely done this together. Let's take these two and then we'll be done. Coach, uh, looks like the first time since 2014, 2 SEC teams in the Final Four, and the second time since you were in the SEC when you started at Tennessee, uh, that that's happened. What does it say? I guess the SEC, this historic role continues. What would you say about the season and what the SEC has has in the in the Final Four? Well, Mike, I, you know, I, um, how the SEC does really matters to me it, it genuinely matters to me, um. You know, it starts with Mike Slave who, um, uh, was *** great, great leader and um in the SEC and unfortunately we lost him way way too soon but one of the great things that Mike Slave did was he had his number, his number one was Greg Sankey and so when we made that transition to Greg, the hardest thing Greg gonna do is replace himself and our league office is just just really, really, really strong and and got great. Uh, great, great leadership and really smart people and, um, put this thing obviously put this thing together, um. Basketball wasn't holding up its end. It was Kentucky. It was *** Billy Donovan coach Florida team, and then every now and then maybe Arkansas have *** run or Tennessee would have *** run with, you know, whatever, whatever. There are now 16 basketball programs in the SEC. They're all committed to, to, to being competitive in, in men's basketball. The fan bases, I mean, we did, we did not play on the road this year except maybe once where the game wasn't *** sell out. And so, um, you know, I just, uh, the, the, the, the league did it, did it, did it's, did, did *** great, has done *** great job and unfortunately there will only be one SEC team playing for the national championship on on Monday. Last question for right on the back. JAO.com. Bruce, the 17-0 run you guys went on in the first half. How important was that to the tempo you guys played the rest of the game? Well, you know, I think if you're, if you're watching that game and you're at home and you're playing against Michigan State, you're playing against Tom Izzo and to watch our guys execute offensively and get great looks and go, this is, this is, and one of the things that I stressed to our guys we benefited greatly. By not valuing possessions against Michigan in the first half, we just, we were sloppy, we were careless. And fortunately we got to go in the second half, but I, we knew in this particular game that was not gonna be an option. We got to our spot we fought for our real estate to only have two turnovers against the Michigan State defense, um, is, is, is obviously, you know, really good, and I, I just think our guys, um, they, they trusted us with *** game plan and one of the things that we just talked about if we do these things offensively and then if we do these things defensively we're gonna win the game. And, and they did. And we did Thank you very much, coach. Thank you so much.