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Coach Hewitt was interviewed by Tim Brando and tdb at the Hive provided this recap:
The return of Elder has been a big lift for our team. Guys like Bynum are no longer forcing offense. Brando talked about Luke and how the game was that much harder for him with B.J. out. Hewitt agreed stating that Luke is a 12 and 10 guy.
- Elder will be eased back into the lineup. Hewitt will play him 23-24 minutes on Sunday against NC State. The coaching staff does not want his hamstring flaring up again. Injuries of Elder's type normally takes 6-7 weeks to fully heal according to people he has spoken to who have dealt with the same type of hamstring injury.
- Brando says when Evtimov and Atsur are on, NC State is very difficult to deal with. Hewitt says, "Herb Sendek is an outstanding coach," and that the Pack would not be 3-7 in the conference right now with all the sickness and injuries they have had to deal with this season.
- Brando brought up the point that we went "only" 9-7 in the ACC regular season last year. Hewitt went on to discuss how tough the conference is and how when you win, you feel lucky/relieved and
move on.
- Brando mentioned how we would not have made it to the NCAA championship game without Bynum. Hewitt talked about how he had asked Bynum last season about what he thought was the reason that helped them make it so far. Bynum said playing all the tough games in the ACC, for example beating UNC in the first round of the ACC tourney and immediately facing Duke the next day. The intensity of the conference and all the close games the team played really helped prepare them for the NCAA tournament.
- On Telfair: Hewitt says nowadays, someone can, "say anything about college sports and run into a corner and hide." The story on Telfair is very stereotypical, both Brando and Hewitt agree. Hewitt has known O'Connor since his days up north at Fordham and is very disappointed in him. Last night, Hewitt found out all the details from someone very close to the situation and he can assure everyone that the claim is completely false. Hewitt mentioned something about how O'Connor knows it's false, but he's just doing it (?) to protect himself.
- The stereotype of the poor black kid from the inner city being lured by the rich white man is a, "stereotype that needs to die." Hewitt says the bottom line is if a kid is good enough to make money these days, then he go to the pros and make millions. It's not the 40's or 50's anymore.
For those of you with RealAudio SuperPass, you can listen to the archived broadcast here (I don't have it).