Collison: 'I’m in the Final Four and I’m happy'

Bruin point guard Darren Collison told reporters on a conference call this afternoon "We’re peaking at the right time, this is where we wanted to be defensively. Coach [Ben] Howland has been doing a good job of stressing to us all season long about our defense and that’s something that we’re going to be targeting throughout these next two games."

Asked about the 37-1 Tigers, Collison was resolute: "Really nothing concerns me about the other team; every team is good. You’re always going to face very talented players and good teams. They’re really athletic and you have to give them credit because they’ve made it this far and we’re going to have our hands full, but we’ve just got to continue to do the job like we have been doing and we should be all right.

"They’re real athletic, that’s all that really stood out to me. When you drive, you’ve got to really know your surroundings, you have to have good offensive awareness where your other teammates are at because three or four guys are coming at you toward the basket.

"We haven’t talked about the match-ups yet; most likely I will [be on Derrick Rose]. For a freshman to do what he does is a terrific accomplishment. There’s so much responsibility as the point guard. Good player, I’ve played against him a couple of times in camps; he’s real athletic.

"It’s going to be a high-scoring game. Hopefully, we don’t allow it with our defense, but both teams can really score the ball, both teams have really good, athletic, talented players and again, if it comes down to defense, it’s who wants it more.

"We’re expecting a 30-point game to a 100-point game. That’s just been our mind-set throughout the whole season. We learned how to play up-tempo with teams and we learned how to slow it down with teams. We just have to slow them down as much as you can"

Reporters asked the junior guard about Memphis’ athletic ability, but Collison said his team’s experience would be a key to being competitive. "I know last year playing against the Florida guys, there were a couple of other teams we played against last year who were as athletic as Memphis. So that’s nothing new to the guys that have been here on this team.

"You just got to take it to them. You can’t have an underdog mindset. You’ve got to really respect your opponent but at the same time you’ve got to go at them. Ever since I’ve been here, we’ve always been the least favored and we’ve made to three Final Four appearances. It doesn’t blow my mind away. It’s just something we have to worry about ourselves and regardless of what anybody else says, it’s going to come down to how we play."

Other highlights:

>> Asked about the size differential between him (6-0) and Rose (6-3) and others, he noted that "Size difference has always been a factor with just about any player I play against because I’m normally the smallest guy on the court, but again I have my quickness."

>> Collison was asked about the 2006 West Region final in which the Bruins upset Memphis, 50-45: "It was a grind-it-out game. They had a point guard named Darius Washington who was very good and a couple of other players who went to the NBA. It just came down to our defensive mind-set that we had that game and I think it’s going to be just the same philosophy as we have going into Saturday’s [game].

"That was one of the games that identified us as a defensive team. Even though it was a low-scoring game, we weren’t capitalizing as much on the offensive end, we weren’t as talented [as now], but defensively, we were a heck of a good team and that’s how we made our run that year."

>> On making it back to the Final Four again, Collison said "It was extremely difficult because any time you try to get back to the same spot a third time; it’s hard because a lot of teams know about you already. You already put yourself on the map and that’s the most difficult thing. A lot of teams had us marked on their calendar. It made us better as a team because we know we have to bring it every single day. When we didn’t, when we didn’t play our best, that’s when we started to have problems. We lost three games on the year and that’s when we knew we didn’t play our best."

>> Asked if he thought his early-season injuries might have kept him from being a first-team All-American, Collison replied "I’m in the Final Four and I’m happy; none of that stuff even matters."