University of North Carolina Athletics
Doherty Discusses Friday's Princeton Game
March 13, 2001 | Men's Basketball
March 13, 2001
UNC head basketball coach Matt Doherty met with the media Tuesday afternoon at the Smith Center to discuss Friday's game with Princeton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Here's some of what he had to say:
"We're in the process of finishing licking our wounds and moving on to Princeton. Drawing Princeton in our bracket certainly got the attention of our players, because we respect them so much. Some of our players played against them before and know how difficult a task it is. They know Princeton's not going to be afraid of North Carolina. Their program beat UCLA a couple of years ago after they had won the national championship, so we respect them a great deal and know it's going to be a tough game.
"They lost a lot, but I think Coach Thompson has done a great job of maintaining the excellence of Princeton that we've all come to expect."
On the state of the team:
"Mentally, we're recovering rapidly. Physically, Kris Lang did not work out this morning. Ronald's a little banged up and Capel has a chip in his left wrist - nothing can really help that - so he's got some discomfort there. But it's nothing more or less than any other program has at this point."
What do you expect from Kris Lang the next few days?
"I don't know. I think he feels better, He says he feels better today than he thought he would. But I don't know if he'll be able to play Friday or not. I think that will be a day-to-day decision.
On Jason Capel's wrist:
"He chipped a bone in his left wrist. It happened in the Duke game. He doesn't remember the particular play."
On leaving for New Orleans on Wednesday:
"It's a business trip. I think it's important that our guys get a feel of the excitement. I think they certainly will when they get down there. I think that will be good for us. We're all still disappointed with the outcome of Sunday's game."
More on last Sunday:
"When you win, there's a lot of good things written and when you lose there are some bad things written or said. You can't believe all the good things. You can't believe all the bad things. In the middle somewhere lies the truth. We haven't played great of late. That's obvious. We played poorly on Sunday and I was disappointed in the effort. After looking at the film and being in the middle of it, it was a hard game to be a part of. When things are falling apart and you're in the middle of it -- you look up at the clock, there's 12 minutes left and you're down 20-something points -- that's not a real good feeling. But what do you do? You keep working through it. You try to best the situation at the moment and the next day and the next day after that. That's part of the challenge of being a coach. There are a lot of little challenges -- not just the Xs and Os, but the mindset of your players and making sure everyone's on the same page and confident as you embark on this new journey."
On leadership:
"We have a quiet group. I think sometimes maybe we haven't had that one guy that can snap everybody in line. So I think a lot of times that falls to me. It should start with me, but you need somebody in the locker room that supports that that has some charisma that people will listen to. Sometimes it's there and sometimes it might not be there. That's something you try to massage every day."
On being back in New Orleans, site of Carolina's 1982 and 1993 national championships:
"To me, the cities don't help you. The arenas don't help you. I think you have a good track record because you have good players in a particular year. I think that's been the case at North Carolina. I don't think a city or a building sheds and magical dust on your team as you arrive. I'm being a little sarcastic, but you have to have good players. I'd rather have good players than a certain city. I think we have good players, we just need to click again. That can happen in a short time. That can happen in a matter of a game or in a matter of a half."
