NCAA Tournament - San Diego State vs. Florida Atlantic: Best of Final Four Media Day
Players and coaches from San Diego State and Florida Atlantic spoke with members of the media as they prepared for their matchup in the Final Four on Saturday.
Video Transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
BRYAN GREENLEE: When I'm on the court at least, and, like, the ball is tipped, I really just tune out all of the fans. Like, I don't notice the crowd very much. Even though I feel the energy, I'm not focused on that. So the biggest adjustment for me was just getting used to the backdrop-- trying to, like, navigate my shot and everything like that. But it wasn't too much of an adjustment. I think, when the game starts, it's just going to be like I'm playing back at FAU or wherever. You know, obviously more fans. But I'm not going to worry about it too much.
VLADISLAV GOLDIN: It's huge. It's actually huge. And the way, like, you look around. And it's, like, you see how many seats there are, how many potential people are going to be there-- and wow. I'm going to be here? Wow.
GIANCARLO ROSADO: My coach is calling me a leader on this team. It's such a great team. I'll tell my kids about this-- how I was a leader on one of the best teams ever in FAU history. It's been an honor to just share this moment with my brothers and be able to really represent West Palm Beach. I've been getting a lot of support back home. And I just want to tell everybody back home, thank you, and I love you guys.
NICK BOYD: We don't really like Cinderella. We feel like we proved ourselves this whole year just by our body of work, our numbers, and how we play as a team. I feel like a Cinderella team-- I mean, doesn't play the way we play. We haven't came in games and just shot people out or beat people by our offense. We just beat these teams frame by frame defensively. And yeah, I don't think we're a Cinderella team.
GIANCARLO ROSADO: No Cinderella at Florida Atlantic, man. If you-- if you want to call us something, call us champ. Call us beach boys. But no Cinderellas.
DUSTY MAY: What an experience for our guys to be in this environment-- this element. We're excited to put FAU on a big stage on Saturday at 6:07.
KESHAD JOHNSON: It's a chip on our shoulder, so we're used to it, though. Like, we're used to mid-majors-- people not expecting mid-majors to be on the big stages like this. So I wouldn't really take it personal. I would just take it with a grain of salt and just stay focused and get it done.
MATT BRADLEY: We're not a bunch of five-stars up here. We're just a bunch of hard-nosed dudes that just play basketball and like to, you know, play for each other and win games. So I hope that's, you know-- that's-- you know, the Final Four teams that are here right now-- it looks like that's the makeup of a lot of these teams. So yeah, I hope they see that.
ADAM SEIKO: Mid-year, we had a player-only meeting, which I'm sure people have read about, which really changed our season. You know? It was something small. And at that time, we were still first in the Mountain West-- in the standings. And we just came off a loss, and we felt like we had to have a player meeting and, you know, just get more connected. And then after that, you know, the sky was the limit for us. And, you know, winning the regular season title, winning the conference title, we knew that we could be really, really dangerous coming into the tournament.
BRIAN DUTCHER: From the day we stepped on campus-- Coach Fisher and I, all those years ago-- we believed this was a possibility. And we sold it recruiting. We didn't just say it. It wasn't empty words just to get a kid to come. We believed if we did what we were supposed to do, we could make a Final Four, and we could win a national championship. And so that's what the message is. We believed it could happen. That's our culture. And some people might say it was a fantasy. But obviously, we're sitting here today.
