There is another media availability in a couple hours with Haase and several players. Here are Haase's comments after Stanford was selected for the NIT tournament. Stanford hosts BYU Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Can you talk about the value and opportunity in playing this tournament?
“I think that’s a great way to talk about it. There is value to it in so many different ways. One is the opportunity to be around teammates and the shared experiences that are lifetime experiences that you can gain a lot from. Also it’s an opportunity for us to improve as a team and to play to win some games. If you talk big picture, it’s showing growth as a program. We are playing in the postseason. We are hosting a game in the NIT and shows that people really valued what we did especially in the conference season."
Did you harbor any hopes of making the NCAA Tournament after the UCLA loss?
“I didn’t have an expectation of getting in. I think we needed to win the UCLA game to start thinking in those terms. I do think our situation is so unique with our roster being so different in the non-conference season than in the conference season that no other team probably has that dynamic. But overall I think we probably needed to at least beat UCLA to have any kind of conversation about the NCAA Tournament.”
What changes in terms of your preparation in this format at this time of the year?
“I don’t think a whole lot. The scouting report will be a little bit different just in terms of not being familiar with it. In the conference tournament we almost didn’t need to do anything with the guys they were so familiar with the conference teams. So we’ll have to spend just a little bit more time on BYU but at the end of the day we give our guys a fairly small amount of information and hold them accountable. The preparation won’t be a whole lot different. I want to make sure it’s light, fun, with what we do, but also with the intent of continuing to go through (the tournament).”
What can you tell us about BYU’s current team?
“I really don’t know anything about their current team. I kind of focus on our team and our conference during the year. I know they are a good team. When I was at UAB we played at BYU in the first round of the NIT and we understand what kind of program they have. It’s a big-time program but in terms of specific I won’t be able to answer that at this point.”
What is the most correctable defensive issue from the UCLA game?
“Staying out of foul trouble is the biggest one. If we can stay out of foul trouble it enables us to play more aggressively on the basketball. Our bigs, we need to continue to try and get to the point of the screen so that they can help deter the ball-handler and his progress, but when our guards are out of foul trouble they can play more aggressively and handle one-on-one situations better. We tend to get passive when we do get in foul trouble and against a guy like Holiday and UCLA it makes it really tough. We also changed ballscreen defenses a couple of times and had poor communication, candidly, on some of them. His (Holiday’s) dunk wasn’t a coverage mistake it was a communication mistake, so I think those are the things that when you talk about the value of a postseason like this hopefully these experiences will help us grow our program not only this year but hopefully moving forward as well.”
Can you talk about the value and opportunity in playing this tournament?
“I think that’s a great way to talk about it. There is value to it in so many different ways. One is the opportunity to be around teammates and the shared experiences that are lifetime experiences that you can gain a lot from. Also it’s an opportunity for us to improve as a team and to play to win some games. If you talk big picture, it’s showing growth as a program. We are playing in the postseason. We are hosting a game in the NIT and shows that people really valued what we did especially in the conference season."
Did you harbor any hopes of making the NCAA Tournament after the UCLA loss?
“I didn’t have an expectation of getting in. I think we needed to win the UCLA game to start thinking in those terms. I do think our situation is so unique with our roster being so different in the non-conference season than in the conference season that no other team probably has that dynamic. But overall I think we probably needed to at least beat UCLA to have any kind of conversation about the NCAA Tournament.”
What changes in terms of your preparation in this format at this time of the year?
“I don’t think a whole lot. The scouting report will be a little bit different just in terms of not being familiar with it. In the conference tournament we almost didn’t need to do anything with the guys they were so familiar with the conference teams. So we’ll have to spend just a little bit more time on BYU but at the end of the day we give our guys a fairly small amount of information and hold them accountable. The preparation won’t be a whole lot different. I want to make sure it’s light, fun, with what we do, but also with the intent of continuing to go through (the tournament).”
What can you tell us about BYU’s current team?
“I really don’t know anything about their current team. I kind of focus on our team and our conference during the year. I know they are a good team. When I was at UAB we played at BYU in the first round of the NIT and we understand what kind of program they have. It’s a big-time program but in terms of specific I won’t be able to answer that at this point.”
What is the most correctable defensive issue from the UCLA game?
“Staying out of foul trouble is the biggest one. If we can stay out of foul trouble it enables us to play more aggressively on the basketball. Our bigs, we need to continue to try and get to the point of the screen so that they can help deter the ball-handler and his progress, but when our guards are out of foul trouble they can play more aggressively and handle one-on-one situations better. We tend to get passive when we do get in foul trouble and against a guy like Holiday and UCLA it makes it really tough. We also changed ballscreen defenses a couple of times and had poor communication, candidly, on some of them. His (Holiday’s) dunk wasn’t a coverage mistake it was a communication mistake, so I think those are the things that when you talk about the value of a postseason like this hopefully these experiences will help us grow our program not only this year but hopefully moving forward as well.”
