Western Kentucky basketball coach Ray Harper talks with the team Monday after defeating Florida International in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game. Joe Imel/Daily News

Western Kentucky went back to practice Thusday. The Hilltoppers won the Sun Belt Conference on Monday and will find out their NCAA Tournament destination and opponent Sunday. Comments from coach Ray Harper, senior Jamal Crook and sophomore George Fant.

Ray Harper

    Schedule moving forward: “We’ll start back practice (Thursday). (Friday) will start some two-a-day stuff and do that through Sunday.

“Of course we start back classes Monday, so at that point we’ll know where we play, when we play and we can make any adjustments to the schedule at that point.”

    Do you care when/where/who? “Not really. Right now it’s more about us and getting back here in the gym and continuing to improve on the defensive end. I thought that was the key to us making the run in the Sun Belt Tournament, I thought we defended very well.

“We have to clean up a few things offensively. I thought there were a couple times, especially late in a couple games, where it comes down to perfect execution and we weren’t able to do that.”

    Valuing the next couple weeks: “That’s always the goal, to play when it’s March and they’re giving away trophies. You want to be playing your best basketball.

“You’ve been here through this whole season and it was difficult at times. We knew why it was difficult and there was very little we could do about it.

“You look out there in the championship and Jamal Crook our starting point guard missed six weeks. Our two-guard T.J. Price missed about four weeks, but was not healthy for six to seven weeks. Caden Dickerson missed eight weeks and Kevin Kaspar four to five weeks.

“That’s four of your top four guards, so I’m proud of the way they hung in there and stayed mentally tough and once we got guys healthy, I think you got a glimpse of what we were capable of.”

   Is WKU playing its best? “No question. I think we are. Definitely on the defensive end this is the best we’ve been all season.

“Offensively, I thought about two weeks ago we were playing our best basketball on the offensive end. Now we wanna get both of those on the same page as we move forward.”

    Hot Springs: “I like to visit and it has been very good to us, but we’ll look forward to going to New Orleans next year.”

 Keeping team focused: “I think it’s important – one of the things that we really talk about is, ‘Stay in the moment,’ and understand that this is a process. Winning this conference tournament championship was a process and it was day-by-day and game-by-game and possession-by-possession.

“That’s the same thing as we get ready, practice is going to be extremely important. These next three days we’ve got to get back in here and clean some things up.”

    Preparing for a specific opponent? “We’ve got a lot of tape on everyone. Today’s technology, it’s not hard to get multiple tapes on anyone that you want.

“We’ll be prepared and, obviously, calling some friends in the business and getting some scouting reports as well.

“The main thing right now is to take care of ourselves.”

    Players watching projections: “We had one of our former players (Mark Bell) talk to them (Wednesday) about when they made their run to the Sweet 16 in ’93. I think one of the things that Mark talked to them about was, ‘No one is talking about you right now and no one was talking about us in 1993. Don’t worry about that. Let them talk about you after you take care of your business.’

“Most important thing right now is we are still playing. You guys that have been here for awhile know there’s not a lot of guys that thought we were still going to be playing right now.”

    “Veteran” group: “We’ve got some guys that have been there, but we still don’t have a lot of seniors – which is good.

“We’ve been able to win back-to-back conference tournament championships with one senior this year – two counting Marcus (Vasquez) – and I think we had one senior last year. That’s the most difficult thing.

“Give these kids a lot of credit. They grew up and matured and I think that was the most important thing for us down the stretch.”

    Do they believe they can win? “No question. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t go. I got some other things I could do if I didn’t believe we could win. I’m never gonna do anything where I don’t think we have a chance.

“We’ll prepare and it’s one of those deals where it’s going to come down to are we mentally tough enough and are we a basketball team that believes and I know we are.”

Jamal Crook

    This weekend: “Just our normal routine. Working on defensive principles, running over some plays, just all that type of drill-stuff – ball-handling, getting some shots up and stuff like that.”

    Team excited? “It’s definitely exciting, but we kind of got that used-to-it feeling because we’ve been there before. The difference about this time is we’re trying to make some noise. We were just content with being there last year. We made it, but this year we made it again and we’re trying to make some noise.”

   Who/where/when? “No, it really doesn’t matter. Just ready for Selection Sunday so we’ll find out and get that process over with.”

Tourney ripe for upsets? “If you’ve been looking at college basketball this whole year, mid-major team’s have definitely been upsetting high-major teams.

“But at the end of the day, you just gotta go out and just play basketball, that’s what it all leads up to. At the end of the day you just have play.”

    Tournament experience: “Just that experience alone just helps us out a lot.”

    Care about who you play? “Personally, me, I know we got to play somebody. It really doesn’t matter to me. Maybe for other guys, they may feel a certain way, but for me personally, it really doesn’t matter.

“A couple of my teammates, they talk about it, ‘We may play this, we may play there, I would like to play this team, not to play that team.’ It really doesn’t matter at the end of the day, we just have to go out and play.”

    Playing well down the stretch: “We’re definitely starting to buy into it. Coach Harper and the thing he harps about a lot is defense and we’ve been doing a lot of that since we’ve been on this stretch.

“I think it was after the Arkansas State game, we’ve just been locking in and just going over our defensive principles a lot.”

    Pulling out tournament wins: “First of all I just want to thank God for allowing us to embrace this moment and make it to the tournament again.

“I think we’re all starting to buy into it, like I mentioned earlier. Guys are getting back healthy, so that’s always a plus. We’re all starting to buy into it, I guess.”

    Things to improve on: “There’s always room for improvement, especially on the offensive end, definitely defensive end, just going back and watching film, we had a few defensive breakdowns.

“One of the things coach ‘Harp’ talked about is being mature. We’ll get a lead at halftime and then, somehow, the other team will make a run. That’s part of the game, runs will be made, you just gotta sustain the lead and don’t get down.”

George Fant

    Team’s excitement: “There’s a of excitement right now. It’s our second year in a row and like I’ve been saying, it’s a way more mature team and the coaches believe in us and I think our thing now is, since we’ve been there and it’s our second year, we’re not just going just to go. We’re trying to win and advance now.

“We were trying to win and advance last year, but I felt like this team is a little more mature, buying into it more this year.”

    Things to work on: “Same things we’ve been working on, just defense, make our defense even more better. The thing that wins games, especially in tournaments, is defense. Big plays are going to come by themselves.”

    Tourney ripe for upsets? “I’m telling you, mid-majors, we on the rise right now. The playing field’s kind of even right now. A Cinderella could pop-up anywhere.”

    Confident going in? “I can definitely say we know what we can do. We know what we can do now.

“One of our managers when we were in Hot Springs ran into (a reporter) on his way to the room and (the reporter) said, ‘You guys are gonna do it again, aren’t you?’

“Our manager told us and we were like, ‘Yeah.’ When you’ve been through it already and you have guys that have already been through it, you can will our team to do more.

“We don’t have many new guys, but they’ll be guys in the tournament that the bright lights will hit them for a second, but we’ll be there to pick ’em up because we’ve been there before.

“I think we got a  lot of basketball to play.”

    Projections: “I heard something about Dayton, but I don’t really care. I feel like we can win and advance, as long as we play good defense and keep winning, that’s a good thing for me.”

    Play-in game again? “I didn’t really like that, but I could care less. I would love to play the one seed again. If you look at it like that, if you beat a one seed, then you get an easier way, I guess, and level the playing field.

“If you knock a one seed out right away, you don’t have to play one later on.”

    Offensive improvements: “I don’t see a lot. I know coach sees a lot more because he’s out there watching everybody try and play their position and play their role.

“I like how our team is shooting the ball right now. Brandon (Harris) is shooting at an unbelievable rate, I don’t know what his percentage is, but he’s shooting it unbelievable right now.

“I can say offensive rebounding, offensive rebounding would probably be a good way to start.”