Here’s what Greenberg had to say in his press conference a couple hours ago ...

Do we feel like we were capable of competing in the tournament? Without a doubt. Do we feel like if we were a 12 seed that people wouldn’t want to play us? Yeah. But I’m sure there are other schools that feel the same way. I’m as proud of this team today as I was yesterday. I told them before the selection show came on: Whatever happens, it’s out of our control, and it doesn’t diminish what we accomplished this year.

His thoughts on the RPI—They can use the RPI to eliminate you or they can use it to put someone in. They selectively decide when they want to use it also. You can spin it any way you want. So maybe they should just eliminate the RPI, because they used it not to invite Arizona State from what I got from that interview, yet they used it to select someone else, or they used it to seed North Carolina in the number one team in the whole thing.

You’ve got to find reasons to eliminate people. I’m sure, to eliminate us, you’d say: All right, well, they were 1-7 against the top 50. That’s a good argument. Well, let’s look deeper into that argument. We have a free throw to beat Butler. We lose with 3.8 seconds at Clemson. How many people are gonna do that? We lose with point-eight seconds to the number one team in the whole tournament. We play Duke without Jeff Allen. How many teams were gonna be better than that? We were right there. But again, we didn’t get it done.

The thing I’m proud about our basketball team is every single team that we lost to earlier in the season, we turned around and the second time we played them, we won with a comfortable margin. And the only team we didn’t do that with was North Carolina. And I would have to believe that if nothing else we sure played them a little bit better or closer.

On his comments about anyone who doesn’t think Tech is a tournament team being “certifiably insane”—Obviously, I’m a very passionate guy. That was not meant to offend anyone. That’s how passionate I am about our basketball team and where we are today. I hope someone in that room was passionate about: Wait a second, these guys just went to Clemson and lost on the last play on, at best, a questionable call and played North Carolina, our No. 1 seed, and led them for everything but a minute and 30 seconds or 26 seconds or whatever. So someone had to be passionate about it. I love my guys. If I wasn’t gonna be passionate about it, who was gonna be passionate about it?

On the NIT and why the NCAA tournament needs to be expanded—Whomever we play is gonna be a very good team. And you’ve got to play well to win, no matter who you’re gonna play in any tournament. And that’s why the field needs to expand. If we really care about student-athlete welfare, which is the No. 1 point for the NCAA, then you’ll maybe give more kids that opportunity. I think that the field could be expanded. I don’t have the answer. I think that’s something that has to be evaluated and critically evaluated. But I think it’s something that needs to be looked at, at least studied, if we really care about the kids.

On what he’s doing for the NIT—We’re giving the students 3,000 tickets that I’ve committed money to and I’m gonna get friends of mine to commit money to. I’m getting a group of people together, and we’re all chipping in. That’s kind of our way to thank our students.

On what he thought before the selection show—I thought we were right on the cusp. It’s all how you perceive it. I could have spun an argument for us being in, and I could have spun an argument for us being out. Do I think we’re a good team? I think we’re a very good team. I think we’re playing good basketball.

Of the people that are in the field, how many of them were gonna win at Carolina? We lost a one-point game to Butler. How many of them were gonna win at Clemson? Again, we lost some guys we wish we had back. There’s no doubt about it. Those teams also had winning seasons. We also went on the road. They want you to play a good schedule and go on the road. Well, we went on the road. Again, I’m not blaming anyone. I’m not unhappy at anyone. I’m excited about going to practice tomorrow.

On getting emotional after the Carolina loss on Saturday—I am really proud of this team. I got choked up talking to them in the locker room after the game. They know I’m a very emotional guy – good, bad, different. I can’t help but feel good about where we are and what we’ve accomplished. We’re not at the end of the road, and we’ve got more opportunities that right now are going to present themselves. The season is long and it’s exhausting. Where we were in August and where we are now – I have a sense of pride in how far they’ve come as a team, just as teammates – trust and caring and appreciating each other. That’s why I got emotional. To me, that’s coaching. Running a tricky play on a side out of bounds – anyone can get that out of a book. Getting guys to care about each other – that’s, to me, your job.

Posted by Darryl Slater in • College Sports
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