University of North Carolina Athletics
Press Conference Quotes - 11-30-04
November 30, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2004
Roy Williams Press Conference Quotes - 11/30/04
On the team's fatigue from the trip to Maui:
"I still think they felt that Sunday night. There's no question in my mind I did then. We had a short practice yesterday, and then gave them some rest time. And hopefully with each and every day, it gets a little bit better. But if you think about it, we played five games in nine days and traveled 30 hours during that time period. It was pretty demanding for them, but I'm hoping each and every day gets better. But there was no question, they were still feeling that Sunday night."
On what advice he will give Sean May regarding his return to Indiana:
"I'm going to tell him just to be Sean May, don't try to be anybody else. Don't try to bring back memories of your dad or anything like that - just be Sean May. He's a wonderful kid, a big time basketball player that can be very successful just playing his own game and not trying to do anything else. Human nature is he's going to want to make every shot and play 50 minutes in a 40-minute game and all those kind of things. It won't be easy, but I think it will be easier now that he's a junior than it would have been as a freshman."
On how Sean May has improved:
"I think his conditioning, his bounce that he has, is better than it was last year. His understanding of 'good shot/bad shot' is so much better. He's a better passer, a better defender. I think he's better in every phase of the game. But the biggest strides he has made has been with the amount of sweat that he has put in in the weight room and the conditioning."
On Sean May as a player to coach:
"He's a very unique young man. He is a fun guy to coach. He is one of the brightest players I ever coached. He is a fun guy. He's a pleasant young man. He's a young man you'd enjoy being around even if he wasn't a good basketball player, you'd enjoy having him on your team."
On whether Sean May is similar to his father as a basketball player:
"Not really...his dad was coldly efficient. I mean take that one or two bounces, pull up and take that jump shot and it always went in. And his dad did play a different position than what Sean does. If Sean could make that 12-15 footer as much as his dad did, he would really be something. Personality wise I think he is (similar). I think he's gotten great characteristics of both his mom and his dad. He's the type of kid I would take home with me and keep."
Sean May Quotes - 11/30
On being anxious about Indiana game:
"My main focus is that I don't want this game to be about me coming back to Bloomington to play. Although it's going to be a great experience for me, we're just treating it as another road game like we're going to Kentucky or going anywhere close to home. I'm just going to have a lot of people in the stands that I know or that want to see me play, especially family and friends. Right now, I'm not overly excited about it, but tomorrow at the shoot around it will probably be a different story."
On having second thoughts about not going to Indiana:
"Freshman year I had a lot of days where I called my dad and I'd ask him 'Are you sure this was the best decision for us to do?' And he told me to just stick through it and everything is going to be fine. There are going to be some ups and downs. But right now, I can actually say that I made the best decision in the world. I couldn't be happier right now where I am at in my career and where I'm at in my game and our team. I love it here and this was the best decision I ever made."
On what he has learned to appreciate about Carolina basketball based on his experience with the basketball program at Indiana:
"It is nearly the same - Bloomington, the fans, the support around the city, the town - everybody loves basketball. I thought Indiana was the basketball mecca of the world and that nobody cared about basketball more than Indiana fans, then I get up here and it's three steps ahead of them. It's crazy how when you're down how many fans support. They supported them that year when they were 8-20 and the thing that I take from that is that there are no fans like Carolina fans all across the country. There will be a lot of people in Assembly Hall tomorrow wearing red and white, but there will be a lot of people wearing Carolina blue. What other school can go to Hawaii and have 600 fans? I don't think that there's any school in the country that can do that.
On the backlash when he chose Carolina over Indiana:
"I tried to get my mom to let me stay home from school because everybody thought I was going to Indiana, but when it was on the front page of the paper that I had chosen to go to Carolina the night before, a lot of friends didn't talk to me and a lot of people close to me had nothing to say to me and never came to watch me play my senior year. That just opened my eyes that everybody doesn't really care about you. I said what I wanted to do was to make this the best decision for Sean May and a lot of people turned their back on me. But at the same time there have been a lot of people who supported me through everything."
