Live From DC: Q&A w/ Purdue's Scott Martin

Live from Washington DC, CHN's Jon Teitel is covering the NCAA Tournament pod featuring Xavier/Georgia, Baylor/Purdue, West Virginia/Arizona, and Belmont/Duke. He'll be checking in periodically with player & coach interviews as well as news updates from the Verizon Center.

Tonight, Jon brings us an interview with Purdue freshman Scott Martin:

Q: What was your day like today?

A: Not much: wake up, practice, dinner.

Q: Your team (including you) is very young: what effect has that had on your team?

A: While we are young, we gained a lot of experience this year, which will help us a lot.

Q: What do you know about Baylor?

A: They are a very skilled/athletic team, and like us, they had a tense time on Selection Sunday waiting for their name to be called. 

Q: You played on an AAU team with current teammates Robbie Hummel and E’Twaun Moore during high school: how did that experience help you during your first season together in college?

A: It helped a lot that we have spent so much time playing together, both at the high school and college level.  Additionally, we have been able to gel with the entire team.

Q: What is Coach Painter like?

A: He is a great guy, and is great at getting us prepared for each game. 

Q: What is Coach Martin like?

A: It is very fun playing for him: he really gets into it and gets fired up at practice. 

Q: How much of your team’s success is based on the defensive end/creating turnovers?

A: We try to play pressure defense and force turnovers, and it has worked out pretty well.

Q: You have had a lot of single-digit losses, as well as a couple of overtime losses: what did your team learn from that?

A: We have tried to learn from all our close losses, and it is good to know that we have at least been close in a lot of games that we lost.  Hopefully it will make us better able to handle close games in the NCAA Tournament.

- Interview w/ Xavier's Derrick Brown

- Interview w/ Georgia's Troy Brewer

- More 2008 NCAA Tournament Coverage

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- Check out various printable & downloadable NCAA Brackets