Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski
I want to congratulate VCU, they’re a championship team in the both regular season and their conference tournament, it’s obvious why. They play 40 minutes, they play hard, their deep, well coached and put pressure on you the whole time. If you are going to build a winning program, that’s what you have to have. I thought our guys played really hard, we were ready to play, I think our foul trouble in the first half hurt us, especially with Paulus’ two. We missed a lot of free throws.
On losing in first round:
I’m happy that these players got us in a position to play in the first round. Getting here every year since 1996 is the story. The fact is that these kids played well enough to put us in a position to go down. They played their hearts out and they just need to learn from this experience and thank all of them for giving us an opportunity to play in this tournament. Playing in the NCAA Tournament is not a birthright.
On motivation for next year:
We hope that everything that you do that does not work out will be a source of motivation. Our kids have always wanted to get better. An experience like this hurts, when you lose in the last few seconds after playing so hard all game its not an easy thing to forget and you should use it as a motivation to get better.
On not calling timeout to set defense:
Not I think with over 10 seconds left that there is more than enough time for them to run something and we drill those things. The kid (Maynor) made a great play. He’s a terrific player and I don’t question the decision.
On McRoberts play:
I think Josh and Greg carried us. Part of it was their pressing and the ball was in Josh’s hands more and I really thought that those two kids handled it great. The press itself gave us a lot of scoring opportunities. Both teams played a very hard and physical basketball game tonight.
Greg Paulus
On playing against Maynor:
It was a physical game throughout, they’re a physical team and we are not going to back down to anybody. A little bit of pushing and shoving, that’s going to happen in a game between two physical teams.
On last play by Maynor:
He mad a good move, checked the clock, made sure he had enough time and made a tough shot. John (Scheyer) did a good job contesting the shot, but he made a nice play and deserves credit for that.
Josh McRoberts
On his performance:
No I was not happy because we did not win the game. I’m never happy with my performance when we lose because that means I did not do enough to win the game.