JOHN DANOWSKI: I think speaking on behalf of the staff and the players, we're delighted, very honored to participate and to still be together for another two days, along the journey that started back in late August.
Q. Obviously a common bond between the teams, missing the tournament last year. What has the journey been like for you guys to get from last May to right here?
KENNY BROWER: I mean, I think just going off last year, you could say it gave us a little more edge, but realistically you come to a place like Duke because you want to play in these games on the last day. No matter what the circumstances last year, still this was always our goal to get to this point.
GARRETT LEADMON: Yeah, going off that, I just think that last year was what it was, and it definitely left a bad taste in our mouth. But this is a brand new team with new guys who have come in, and I think like Kenny said, the standard is just to get back to this weekend every year, so that's what we were just pushing for all the way back starting in August.
JOHN DANOWSKI: I know I've said this before, but if you won a championship last year, you wouldn't dwell on that, so just because you didn't make the tournament, we didn't spend a lot of time dwelling on that kind of energy. It was a new team, new transitions, new leadership roles, new position roles.
It's really a new year. That's the fun of being on a team or the fun of coaching is that every year is a whole journey to itself.
Q. Notre Dame has kind of taken the opposite approach of using that as fuel throughout the season. Talk about the difference between not dwelling on it and using it --
JOHN DANOWSKI: You know, I can address that. That's great. Notre Dame is a great program. Kevin Corrigan has done a phenomenal job. But that's what makes Notre Dame unique, and we've chosen our path.
Q. Is it still used as fuel in the back of your minds?
JOHN DANOWSKI: Not for me, but --
GARRETT LEADMON: I think that Notre Dame has their own methods of motivating their team. I just don't think that's kind of how we go about things. I think it's a little bit different.
Yeah, I think that we just show up at practice, and we just enjoy being with each other so much, and just the experience in and of itself is what motivates us, just being with each other every day and working really hard on our practice fields. I think that's enough motivation for us right there.
Q. (Inaudible.)
JOHN DANOWSKI: Yeah, we graded the film. I thought we were really -- we had a couple guys trying to do too much, just trying to make plays. So a little bit of that. I thought a little bit off the ball we were a little bit not in great team position where we weren't in position to help one another, and part of it was Penn State shot the ball lights out. They shot the ball off the back foot. They were terrific, and they were just slinging, playing with a lot of confidence.
We could have helped ourselves a little bit, I thought. Better team position, settling down a little bit, maybe a little better communication. All things that we need to work on, which we've already begun that starting last night.
KENNY BROWER: Yeah, so Penn State, very highly skilled team, great in the pick game, and yeah, they were hitting a lot of shots. They had very capable shooters there. Yeah, we always preach it just goes back to the fundamentals of the defense, like Coach said, getting that team position and then obviously, too. In a big game like that in a big stadium, that goes a far way.
Yeah, we just need to recenter ourselves and go back to the fundamentals and focus on those.
Q. Garrett, what's this whole year been like for you, taking a new role, and obviously that leads to the biggest goal of your career happening yesterday? Talk about the bigger picture of your journey.
GARRETT LEADMON: Yeah, I think that's kind of our MO at Duke is you step in where you're needed, and in the past I was needed elsewhere at a different position, and this year I'm needed here as an offensive player. I'm just happy to step in wherever the team needs me. That's been the case this year, and I've just been really fortunate to be able to make the most of it and have a lot of fun doing it, especially with the guys down there on offense. It's been a blast, and yeah, I'm very grateful for it all.
Q. Coach, from your experience doing this, do you have any lessons of handling this kind of 48-hour period?
JOHN DANOWSKI: Yeah, there's a tremendous amount of joy on the first day, on Saturday, because you get a chance to unpack your bags again to stay for another two nights. So there's the kind of exhilaration of that. But then there's the realities of we've got work to do and we've got to get better.
I thought that, again, we tip our cap to Penn State, but we take a look critically at our own performance and say there are areas that if we want to be successful on Monday that we need to improve upon.
We started last night with the grading of the film and a very frank conversation with the team. Right now the defense is watching film without Kenny. The offense is napping probably. They'll watch film later on. Coaches were watching film when I left. We'll practice this afternoon over at Drexel. We'll probably through through tonight, watch some more film with the group. We'll walk through in the morning, and then come over and play.
But at this point, you have to be true to who you are, and that's really the goal. The reason that you're here is because you've been successful, so you've got to stay true to who you are.
Q. What lessons do you take from that regular season meeting (indiscernible)?
KENNY BROWER: Yeah, just going off Notre Dame, very highly skilled team, also whole attack, offense, middies, they just have very skilled players that can do a bunch, athletic, and they're a great team. Just coming into this next game, obviously we've got to come in prepared and focused on, like we say, in communication and team position, and yeah, continue to fight out there because they're very scrappy, tough guys, and we've just got to bring that intensity if not take it up another notch.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports