NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Second Round – Maryland vs Alabama
Friday, March 17, 2023
Birmingham, Alabama, USA Legacy Arena
Coach Kevin Willard, Don Carey, Patrick Emilien
Q. You kind of joked yesterday after the game about some of the road struggles that you guys have had, and it wasn’t so bad being down where you were. There’s going to be a lot of Alabama fans here tomorrow. How do you kind of help your team avoid getting off to a slow start and get going and not letting the crowd take over?
KEVIN WILLARD: We just experienced it in the Big Ten Tournament, Indiana had 17,000 fans. We got off to a good start.
It’s just something you’ve got to deal with. That’s the bad thing about being the 8, 9 seed. That’s why you don’t want to be the 8, 9, because you’re going to get a home game your second game.
I think we’ve played in enough venues. I don’t think the crowd’s the factor. If you look at Alabama’s roster, I’m more worried about that than I am the crowd.
Q. Coach, you raved about practice on Wednesday. How was practice today? What was the main focus?
KEVIN WILLARD: Practice was okay today. Guys were in good spirits, good focus. It’s tough to kind of go — it was more of a mental day.
Just get these guys to understand ‘Bama personnel, kind of what they’re doing in their pick-and-rolls. We’ll spend more time tonight on what they do defensively, but today was more or less put in the game plan. Really they’re such a talented roster, trying to get these guys to understand personnel because I think personnel, more than anything with this team, is critical.
Q. 30 years ago you were around for a pretty big second round upset, your dad coaching. Wonder if there’s anything he did, just in terms of mindset, general preparation, that maybe you learned from?
KEVIN WILLARD: No, he took his team to Magic Kingdom the day before. I remember because I was with him. It wasn’t Magic Kingdom, it was — the movie one. Universal, thank you. He took them to Universal and just kind of kept it relaxed.
Same thing with us. I think we’re going to go to Top Golf later, kind of get them out of the hotel, maybe Cheesecake Factory, get out of hotel food.
Yeah, I think the most thing is every team is different. I think this team, my team, they’re an older team….
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