May 23, 2006

Purdue's Doug Schrieber
Opening statement...
First of all I'd like to congratulate Rich and his team for winning the Big Ten, also Paul for making it to that last weekend.  It's always exciting for it to be settled during that last weekend, and congrats to all the other teams as well for making it here.  As far as Purdue goes, you always have the expectation of competing well and we did a decent job this year.  We've been pretty banged up since about half way through the Big Ten season and we're still not 100 percent healthy, but for a team that couldn't win on Fridays we hung in there and found ways to win on Sundays and steal a few Saturday games.  We're here now and feel that we deserve to be here, and we're looking forward to competing this weekend.

On whether the Big Ten will begin getting more at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament...
Well I'm on the NCAA Selection Committee and I think that Michigan has a great chance.  I don't think they have to do anything special to get into the tournament just because of what they've done, and hopefully the selection committee looks at what they did last year as well.  I also think Ohio State has put themselves in a position, maybe with the help of a win or two here at the tournament, that they will get looked at regardless of whether they win the tournament.  From that standpoint, if someone else wins it, then maybe the Big Ten would get three.  I think as a league we've continued to get better with things such as our non-conference schedule. 

Illinois' Dan Hartleb
Opening statement...
I'd like to congratulate Rich also and the rest of the participants here.  If you look at the conference throughout the year, there is a lot of parity and that I think shows that we're going to have a great tournament this week.  It's a tournament that anybody can win.  We're excited to be here from the standpoint that we finally got healthy this past weekend and this will be the first time in about three weeks that we have everyone at 100 percent.  The team is very excited about being here and I think it's going to be a great week of competition and it looks like we'll have great weather.  In our situation as well I feel as though its extremely important that our players found a way to get into the tournament.  Our team is much different than last year's championship team - it's basically an all new team so I was pleased with the way we fought this season through some adversities.  We had some tough times late in the year but found a way to get here and we're extremely excited to be here with the group of guys that we have.

On whether being a part of the Illinois staff for so long help eased the transition of taking over the program...
I think it has been an easy transition because I was at Illinois for 15 years prior and during my time we had a lot of say in the program and a lot of responsibility so there were a few minor things we changed, but the program is basically the same.  I thought we had a good foundation.  We knew this was going to be a tough year because the make up of our team is completely new.  We had seven kids from last year's team who were fortunate enough to go on and play professionally.  So, I'm not sure what I expected coming into the season, but as a transition overall its been very good and we're very well supported.  At Illinois they believe in baseball and have given us every opportunity to be successful.  So I think it has been a very good transition.

Minnesota's John Anderson
Opening statement...
First of all, Rich, to you and your team congratulations, and that goes to all the other participants also.  I think I'm going to echo some of the other comments here.  I think there has been quite a bit of parity in the league the past couple of years and I think that's related to some of the coaching changes that have been happening throughout the league.  Some of the programs have put greater emphasis on competing in the Big Ten in baseball and I think we've seen the results of that in the last few years.  It seems like there hasn't been a big separation in the standings over the past couple of seasons so it will be interesting to see if that prevails over the next few seasons.  In my opinion there have been a few positive changes and I think we have a more competitive league than it was seven or eight years ago from top to bottom.  And that's a good thing.  We need to have the best baseball conference we possibly can for the student-athletes and for the conference as a whole.  Our team has played more people, especially position players, than ever trying a few things out.  We've had our fair share of injuries, it's part of the sport, and we're not 100 percent healthy yet.  We've battled the injury bug a bit this year as well as our inconsistent performances, but our kids have competed and battled all year and I expect them to do that this week here in the tournament and it should be an outstanding four or five days of baseball. 

On the challenges of having to play on the first day...
Well I think first and foremost you have to play more games to win the championship.  The other thing you have to think of is turning over the pitching staff.  We played Friday, Saturday and Sunday and here we are getting ready to play on Wednesday.  This is a quick turnaround and I think pitching becomes a premium.  I think that your pitchers are the biggest concern, as well as having to win an extra game or two to win the championship. 

On the role of the pitching staff and the quick turnaround...
I remember being the sixth seed and asking Paul if he had any pitchers we could borrow to finish the thing out.  I think pitching is critical but the bottom line is who can execute the three things, timely hitting, pitching and defense, is what it's going to come down to.   Ultimately that will win out in the end.

Ohio State's Bob Todd
Opening statement...
I'm going to reiterate what most of the other coaches have said to Rich - congratulations to you, and to Paul as well.  Some people don't realize some of the adversity that Paul has to deal with at Northwestern, and to finish second I think was a tremendous feat.  I don't think people realize how tough it is to win championships.  As we started our season people thought that we would have experience in certain areas, but you take a look back, with 35 kids on our roster, 15 are true freshmen and three are redshirt freshmen.  So 18 of our players are freshmen in eligibility.  So I think we've got a lot of youth and that our future looks good. 

And I will reiterate what John Anderson said:  I think it's great that (and this goes to all the administrators in our conference who have put an emphasis on competing in all sports, especially baseball) we have seen all 10 teams having a chance to make this tournament coming into last weekend.  I think that speaks very well for this league that we are all so competitive and equal.  And I think you're going to see a lot of changes in that championship spot.

On the challenges of having to play on the first day...
I don't think there is any doubt that when you start getting deeper and deeper into your pitching staff, it starts taking its toll, and when you have to play that extra game it just adds to it.  And there is no tomorrow.  Everyone is fighting like crazy to stay out of that losers' bracket.  It's just so difficult to make it if you have to go all the way through the bottom bracket.  When your pitching is thin things start happening negatively, so you fight to stay in the winners' bracket.

On what it will take to overcome being a lower-seeded team...
We really look at the season in three parts: the preseason/non-conference season that prepares you for the Big Ten season and now you're in post-season play.  Now whatever we've done in the past 50-60 games doesn't mean a thing.  It comes down to playing in this tournament and getting hot.  In short series like this, pitching and defense win ball games.  

Northwestern's Paul Stevens
Opening statement...
First and foremost I want to say congratulations to Rich here and your team.  You've done a phenomenal job from the start of the season.  I can't tell you how impressed I was when we played you guys the first weekend and watching you throughout the season.  This conference is very well represented by Michigan winning the championship, so congratulations.  To the rest of the guys sitting to my right, I feel pretty fortunate because there are some pretty impressive guys to my right. 

Most of the time Northwestern is taking lessons from these guys and this year we just happened to learn our lesson a little bit better than we have in other years and we found a way to win some ball games.  We had a lot of ups and downs early, but our guys started believing right at the start of the Big Ten season that they could really do something, even late in ball games.  We realized that we could hold onto leads when we had them, or get them back if necessary.  The character of the Northwestern team I had this year - I can't even tell you how proud I was of these guys. 

I agree with the rest of these gentlemen that, with the way this tournament and this league is structured that it creates a tremendous amount of excitement for all of our players to be in it until the end.  That's what I love about the tournament, and I think this year the conference has a lot to be proud of with how things are starting to structure themselves. 

On exceeding expectations and being in contention for the championship into the final weekend of the regular season...
I think a lot of it started when we were playing Michigan.  To play against a program with the history that Michigan has, and to do what we did the first weekend, I think that really made these guys believe that they could do it.  Early on in the non-conference season we had some leads and would give them up late.  But I think after the Michigan series these guys realized they had the ability and their character starting coming out. 

On whether the conference will get three teams into the NCAA Tournament...
I definitely think there are teams in here that deserve that possibility.  Northwestern isn't delusional about where we sit.  We know we have to win this thing in order to move on, but I think that there are teams that are here that definitely are capable of moving to the next plateau and winning there and moving on even further.  I think the Big Ten is extremely competitive and I think the teams that are up here can represent themselves very well in the NCAA Tournament. 

Michigan's Rich Maloney
Opening statement...
Well I appreciate the congratulations from everyone, and I applaud you all for the jobs that each of you do with your programs and it should be a great, great tournament.  The weather looks like it's going to cooperate and hopefully we'll have some great crowds and the kids will have a great experience with each of our teams.  These guys that are next to me have all proven their excellence in coaching, so I'm grateful to have a Big Ten Championship this year, and it was a battle all the way through to the end. 

I truly have to recognize Paul here because what he's doing with the resources he is given is truly significant.  Some of our programs have support that is overwhelming, and Paul at his program doesn't always have the same amount of support that others have.  For what his kids did this year, and for the job that he did to get them to play that way was really extraordinary.  He is certainly worthy of Coach of the Year, and I'm really happy for you Paul.  I mean that sincerely. 

For us, for our team, the way we were able to close out the season the way we did is a testament to our kids and the resiliency they have shown all year.  After losing the first series to Northwestern we could have been devastated.  We were really in trouble.  Fortunately we were able to win a series at Minnesota somehow and that really gave us some confidence going into a series with Ohio State.  With that we actually gathered some momentum and started to believe that we had a chance to compete for a championship.  The whole way we were tied with Northwestern and it went all the way down to the end.  Fortunately for our kids we were able to play well down the stretch and get that last sweep this weekend.  With that said, it's a complete honor to win a championship where there are so many great coaches and great players.  It's a very difficult thing to do, and our conference is tough from top to bottom.  Over the next few years I think it's only going to get better with the coaches that are in our league because they all work extremely hard and do a great job.  We're excited to host and we hope it's a great experience for everyone.   

On how it feels to be hosting a Big Ten Tournament here...
Obviously you want to get to the point where you have great momentum, and I only took over this program four years ago.  The timing was right for someone to come in and gather that momentum, and fortunately with the help of many people, the kids started believing in what we were trying to do and the alumni stepped up.  As you start to win you gather more momentum and people start to get excited about the program, and that's when good things happen.  When I came to Michigan as a high school kid, I envisioned great crowds and that's what we're building towards returning to someday.