Chris Mack joined WCKY in Cincinnati with Mo Egger to talk about the play of Jordan Crawford, what the team learned from the earlier meeting against Kansas State, and whether or not his team has seen a backcourt as good as the one that Kansas State brings.

On whether or not he looks at Jordan Crawford to take over games when other guys are struggling:

“No I really don’t.  A lot of the opportunities that seem to get him going are out in transition.  We play better defense, I think at one point we had nine straight stops against Pittsburgh, and when we do that he’s one of the best athletes in the country in the open court.  He gets a couple going to the rim and it just seems like it ignites him.  The last thing that I want to do is place all that pressure on Jordan and say you gotta take over when I think we have other really good players.  There was a stretch in the second half where he really got it going and I’m on the bench a little bit worried because I don’t want the other four guys to all of the sudden just sit around and watch because eventually he’s gonna tire out.  We’re gonna have to have more balance.  Fortunately we were able to get the ball inside as I don’t want to say he cooled off a little bit, but they showed more attention to him.”

On how he is keeping his team focused on one game at a time:

“The thing about the NCAA Tournament is that it’s so quick, it’s so fleeting.  I don’t care if you get to the second weekend or not, it’s gone in a week or two weeks or if you’re lucky enough to get to the Final Four it happens so quickly.  You wanna savor every moment that you’re in the tournament.  Whether it’s an open shootaround or whether it’s hanging with the fellas at a team meal because those are the memories that you’re gonna carry for a long time.  I want our guys to enjoy it, but at the same time when the ball gets thrown up be desperate to win and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

On how his team and Kansas State are different from the first meeting:

“I think we’ve grown.  I think Kansas State taught us a lesson in terms of how to handle pressure better.  Nobody that we played on our schedule this year brings it defensively like Kansas State.  They try to deny every pass, their five through their one, it doesn’t matter who’s on the ball, they pressure.  That’s something that I think shocked our guys early on in the season.  We learned from that.  We made a few adjustments if we were ever to face a team like that again on how to handle it better.  They’ve only lost seven games and three of them have been to Kansas so there’s a reason that they’re 28-7 and as highly thought of as they are.  We’re gonna have to play well.  I have no doubt that we will and we’re not going there to show up, we’re going there to win the game.  That’s what were gonna try to do in Salt Lake.”

On the backcourt duo of Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente:

“Probably the only comparison you can make would be Richmond and the thing about Richmond is they put you in the grinder so much in the half court.  I think Kansas State plays a very similar style to us offensively.  They don’t mind pushing it, they average close to 80 points per game, and those two guys have taken I think half their shots this year for Kansas State.  It’s one of the deals of those two guys are gonna shoot it and everybody else is gonna go get it.  That mindset of offensive rebounding is a huge component to what Kansas State does.  It’s a big challenge and probably two of the better guards we’ve faced all year.”

Listen to Chris Mack on WCKY in Cincinnati here

Take us through the scene at TMZ when you got a hold of this tape:

We get a lot of tapes, lot of videos in to the newsroom.  Sometimes we get a lot of sex tapes and things, let me tell you, we are just a bunch of guys who are sports fans in there and this tape brought everyone running around.  The guy who got the video in had it up on his desk and there were about eight guys who gathered round at his desk and played it over, and over, and over again, and saw Jordan Crawford come down the lane and dunk right in LeBron’s face.  It’s awesome because it’s the tape that everyone’s been talking about and nobody’s seen it.”

Where did this tape come from if Nike took away all the rolling tapes?

“Nike went around and confiscated the video that they knew was shot, what they didn’t know is there was someone else there who shot it just on their cell phone.  Apparently, Nike guys haven’t discovered that cell phones have video cameras as well; this person had it on a cell phone.  I wish it was a camera that was right underneath the hoop where you could see the look on LeBron’s face, but it’s awesome.  You can see Jordan come down the lane, and after he gets dunked on, LeBron is kind of standing there and you can tell something just happened that he didn’t wanna have happened, and ‘Oh crap.  It’s on video too.”

Why are you waiting until Wednesday afternoon / evening to release it?

“Here’s the problem: we got it in really late today (Tuesday) and if we would had put it up on the web tonight, we’d rather have it out tomorrow and more people are gonna see it.  People are gonna talk about this for a long time; people have been talking about this for ten days and they never saw it.  There’s definitely news value in this piece, people have been wanting to see it, and quite frankly, the story really became why did LeBron and Nike shut this thing down?  They actually made it a bigger story; if the video had just come out that day nobody would be talking it about it anymore.  It would be over and done with.  They actually created this story by yanking the tape and not letting anybody see it.  What’s the big deal?  Everybody gets dunked on at some point.”

Are you going to find LeBron to get a reaction from him?

“We’re gonna try and find him somewhere and what’s the big deal?  What’s the big deal?  I think, at this point, once the video comes on I would hope LeBron’s just gonna say, ‘You know what?  It was a great move by Jordan, I hope the kid’s gonna have a great career,’ and move on.  That would be the smart thing to do, if he wants to continue to stonewall everybody, I think that’s gonna look bad for him.  Whatever he does, as long as in 2010 he signs with the Knicks, I’ll be fine.”

Listen to Charles Latibeaudiere on KLAC with JT The Brick

Why did they take away the tapes?

“I don’t really know anything about that, that’s Nike and him overriding it.  I don’t wanna get caught up in that.”

How did the dunk happen?

“He was waiting under the rim while I was coming towards him, and I jumped, and he kinda jumped away.  I don’t think he thought I was gonna dunk it, and then, you know.  (Host: You dunked it.)  Yeah.”

What were you guys playing at the time?

“We was playing 5-on-5; it was 20 college campers and we were split up in to four teams and LeBron brought his own team.”

Was he annoyed after you dunked on him?

“He definitely took over – he was LeBron, he was still LeBron.  It happened, like, the first 30 minutes when we we hooping, and we was hooping for like two hours.  After I did it, we just kept playing ’cause the basketball just got started really.”

Listen to Jordan Crawford on WSCR 670 The Score in Chicago

There are obviously HUGE expectations at Arizona, and Miller addresses those in the following interview, along with the sudden rivalry he has with his mentor Herb Sendek (Arizona State’s coach) and what it means to succeed a coach like Lute Olson. Additionally, Miller talks about the difficulty in leaving a program like Xavier that has become a national name.

On leaving Xavier

“Me, picking up and leaving Xavier University, a lot of people out here may not understand the great tradition we had going on out there and the team we had coming back. I wasn’t going to leave there unless I felt it was one of the top places in the country to coach college basketball and at the end of the day, when you have that opportunity, it may never come again. I feel very fortunate to be here, honored to be the coach and hopeful that we can have the success here in the future that we’ve had over a quarter of the century.”

On his friend and head coach of Arizona State, Herb Sendek

“I’m rooting very hard for him because he’s a good friend and someone who has meant a lot to me…He taught me a lot and I respect him a great deal. I also understand that I’m the head coach at the University of Arizona and I understand very quickly what that rivalry means and what the Pac-10 means…When I had an opportunity to think about his success, you can see that we’re going to have to go through a similar period and I think the difference may be with us, just with the incredible tradition behind it, I think the future can be maybe even brighter here one day.”

On Coach Lute Olson

“I know Coach Olson is a Hall of Fame coach and I’m sitting at his desk right now and it’s an honor to do so, but in his first year I believe he won 3 games. So if nothing else maybe I can beat one record right away and make it a positive and get off to a better start than he did.”

Listen to Sean Miller on XTRA Sports 910 in Phoenix with Bickley and MJ

“This year’s team on offense scores easily..and Levance Fields in particular, he just makes everybody better. A long time ago when I did play, he reminds me so much of Sherman Douglas and what he used to do for Syracuse.

And on the glass, what would probably worry me more, and any coach is DeJuan Blair and just their team’s overall rebounding. They lead the nation in offensive rebounding % wise and that’s such a huge stat because it just deteriorates your team if they’re able to do that. Ironically that’s our greatest strength and I think the point on our team, which one will hold serve. If we could do a good job on the glass, that will be our best chance..to have a chance to win.”

Listen to Sean Miller on WFAN in New York

View East Region bracket coverage on CBS Sportsline

Watch highlights of Xavier vs. Wisconsin

This should be a good one. Odds to win the region can be found after the interviews, compliments of Bodog, www.BodogLife.com.

Reason why #1 seed doesn’t make it to the Final Four:   If Levance Fields still isn’t recovered from his groin problems or DeJuan Blair is in foul trouble, Pitt can be beat.

Best bet in the first round:   Over 157 1/2 in the Oklahoma State/Tennessee game

Player I’m most looking forward to playing in the NBA:  Tie between Sam Young of Pitt and Eric Maynor of VCU.  In terms of Young, I can’t wait to see if that ridiculously exaggerated pump fake actually works in the NBA.  I remember watching Maynor two years ago when they upset Duke.  Ice in his veins and should become a nice pro.

Prediction for this bracket: Pittsburgh.  I know they haven’t had great success in the tourney in the past, but I love Blair and Young.  Sleeper pick would be Florida State

Listen to Pittsburgh (#1) head coach Jamie Dixon with Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio (19 minutes into podcast)

Listen to Duke (#2) guard Jon Scheyer and assistant coach Chris Collins on WGN Radio in Chicago with Dave Kaplan

Listen to Villanova (#3) head coach Jay Wright with Cuz and Prof on WIP in Philadelphia

Listen to Xavier (#4) Head Coach Sean Miller on WQXI in Atlanta with the Two Live Stews

Listen to Florida State (#5) leading scorer Toney Douglas and his brother Falcons wide receiver Harry Douglas on WQXI in Atlanta with Morning Mayhem

Listen to Oklahoma State (#8) Head Coach Travis Ford on The Sports Animal in Oklahoma City with Jim Traber, Al Eschbach, and Dean Blevins

Listen to Tennessee (#9) Head Coach Bruce Pearl on WQXI in Atlanta on Morning Mayhem

Listen to Minnesota (#10) head coach Tubby Smith on KFAN in Minneapolis with Dan Barreiro

Listen here to VCU (#11) head coach Anthony Grant with Jeff Aaron on KRKO in Seattle

Listen to Portland State (#13) head coach Ken Bone on KKFX in Portland 

Listen to ETSU (#16) Head Coach Murray Bartow on KGOW in Houston with John and Lance