BOSTON — For the third time in as many seasons, the top-seeded LSU women’s basketball team has advanced to the Women’s Final Four. However, the Lady Tigers look this time to advance for the first time to a national championship game when they face Duke at 8:30 p.m. CT on Sunday.
After winning the Southeastern Conference regular-season title with a 13-1 league record, LSU (31-3) fought through two tough first halves in Nashville to soundly defeat No. 16-seeded Florida Atlantic (72-48) and No. 9-seeded Washington (72-49).
The road to Boston continued in the San Antonio Regional, where LSU broke a tie game at the half to beat No. 4-seeded DePaul, 66-56, and keep the Blue Demons from their first Sweet 16 victory.
Two days later, Augustus took a charge with less than five seconds to play to secure a 62-59 win over No. 3-seeded Stanford and punch LSU’s ticket to Boston and the 2006 NCAA Women’s Final Four.
On Sunday evening, LSU plays the second of two national semifinal matches — the first time that the Lady Tigers have played in the nightcap of the Women’s Final Four.
In 2004, LSU was tied and had possession of the ball in the final moments of the Women’s Final Four against Tennessee. However, point guard Temeka Johnson turned the ball over and the Lady Vols made a layup as time expired to win, 52-50.
In 2005, the Lady Tigers had a double-digit lead in the first half before eventual national champion Baylor came back to hand LSU its second-straight Women’s Final Four loss, 68-57.
This season, Duke (30-3) stands in the way of LSU’s shot at a national championship — one of three Atlantic Coast Conference schools still vying for the 2006 title.
In two of the past seven seasons, LSU had ended the Blue Devils’ NCAA Tournament run, including a 59-49 decision in the 2005 Chattanooga Regional.
If LSU hopes to advance to Tuesday evening’s national championship game (7:30 p.m. CT, ESPN), the team must continue to get stellar play from two-time State Farm Wade Trophy winner, Seimone Augustus.
Augustus, the nation’s leading scorer and active career scoring leader, put LSU on her then-sore and stiff back to get the Lady Tigers to Boston. The senior has matched her season scoring average (23.0 ppg.) in the tournament, while adding six rebounds per game and hitting 50.6 percent of her field goals (39 of 77).
Her teammate in the paint, 6-6 center Sylvia Fowles, has averaged a double double in the NCAA Tournament (12.3 ppg., 11.5 rpg.) while blocking eight shots.
Though four of the nation’s top-six scoring offenses will be showcased in TD Banknorth Garden, the Lady Tigers’ defense will be key in stopping a potent Duke attack.
Kodak All-American Monique Currie leads Duke in scoring with 16.3 points per game, while 6-3 senior forward Mistie Williams adds 11.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
In the middle, Duke’s 6-7 center Alison Bales earned the Bridgeport Regional Most Outstanding Player honor and averaged 13.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.3 blocks in the first four tournament games.
Two players new to the Blue Devils’ squad since last season’s meeting are point guard Lindsey Harding (10.5 ppg., 4.5 apg.) and freshman reserve guard Abby Waner (8.9 ppg., 47 of 126 from three-point range), who was the national high school player of the year in 2005.
The Women’s Final Four will begin with North Carolina and Maryland at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.
Live streaming audio will start on the LSU Sports Radio Network and in LSUsports.net’s Geaux Zone starting at 7:45 p.m. CT.
An Interview With:
POKEY CHATMAN,
SEIMONE AUGUSTUS, SCHOLANDA HOSTON, SYLVIA FOWLES
DEBBIE BYRNE: We will let Coach make an opening statement and go to your questions. Please raise your hand so we can get a microphone to you.
POKEY CHATMAN: Obviously we’re extremely excited to be here and we have been asked a lot of questions about being the third trip and, no, it does not diminish it. It’s just exciting and it’s a credit to this team and what keeps you focused on everything is the fact that you have a formidable opponent in Duke waiting. The fact that they lead the nation in scoring, second in plus rebound margin. Presents several problems to you, inside attack, outside attack. I could go on and on.
I was speaking to someone about game goals and that is to play a 40 full minutes of Lady Tiger basketball, because that’s what’s needed this time of year.
Q. This is a two-part for Scholanda and Coach Chatman: Scholanda, how much of an advantage is it to having been here three consecutive years? And Coach, how much of an advantage is it to having a player like Seimone in this environment who can take over and kind of win a game for you if she has to?
SEIMONE AUGUSTUS: I think it’s a bit of an advantage, just in having some experience. That plays into being able to help our younger players along. Everybody except for Kristen Morris was here on the team last year but a lot of them didn’t get the minutes as Seimone and myself did, and Sylvia too. And just being able to talk to them and kind of coach them through and settle them down a little bit, like Erica White playing a tough point guard position and really this being the first time that she’s having to carry such a heavy load in such a big environment on such a big stage. Just being able to be her support and help her through that.
POKEY CHATMAN: I’ll start with the Seimone question, because that’s the easiest one. Seimone, Seimone is Seimone and she’s a joy to watch grow. Obviously on the court because that’s the part that gets rewarded the most, but just as a person and how she’s infected, affected, effected this team and not at the expense of the team, and part of the reason why we’re back here, we all become better coaches, when we get players like Seimone Augustus. But just in terms of being here again, just to expand a little bit on what Scholanda said, I think it’s huge in terms of the process of events that take place up until the game. We understand it’s going to boil down to 40 minutes of action, it’s going to take place in between 94 by 50 feet lines, but just in terms of getting everyone ready and enjoying all the moments, because it’s so unlike anything else, but we enjoy it every time.
Q. If there’s one similar theme for all four of these teams it’s they all seem to run well or at least play very good transition basketball. Is that the direction that the women’s game seems to be going in general and is that a good thing?
POKEY CHATMAN: It’s a good thing because generally what starts that transition is a sound defensive effort in the half court. And that’s a compliment to kids at this level buying into that end of the floor, because it’s not often glorified. You credit them and you credit the coaches for making that a point of emphasis. But we’re okay with it moving in that direction because it helps you utilize every facet of the game. It’s no longer a half court game, it involves every inch of the court.
Q. Coach, this is your third straight year in the Final Four, I’m sure there’s a comfort zone, but in a way do you feel like an outsider to an ACC party?
POKEY CHATMAN: The comfort zone, that’s for you guys to write about. It sounds a lot better, it doesn’t feel comfortable because of the field and that’s just a compliment to Duke, Maryland and North Carolina.
I think it’s tremendous that a conference could put three schools in this event. And we can make jokes about it, I think I did last night, but that’s just a compliment to what they have done. You don’t feel like an outsider because at the end of the day it’s the basketball game and everything you work for for so many years coming up to this point.
Q. My question is for Coach Chatman, how do you and your players prepare for a big game?
POKEY CHATMAN: Several things go into that preparation. The obvious is the basketball, we watch a lot of film — I’ll back up.
We rest. We make sure we feed them well. We practice a lot. We watch a lot of film. We talk about those things. We emphasize everything that’s gotten us to this point and most importantly we enjoy it.
Q. Sylvia Hatchell spoke for a few minutes about her relationship with you over the last couple of years. Could you talk about that and also your thoughts on the other coaches in the Final Four here.
POKEY CHATMAN: Yes, through Sue I always felt like I knew everyone because she knew everyone so I would hear all the stories from the Nike trips and how fun they were, but I always felt like I knew them and I had to remind myself that I really didn’t; it was from a distance.
But I remember when I was first named head coach in the Nike trip was in Tahoe and of course they all had the gist of it, so they were enjoying it, having a good time, golfing, on the yacht, and I was working trying to get my staff together and I had a little bit more on my mind. But I just remember every morning, every other morning just meeting up with her and having conversations with her. It was a definite comfort level. I remember having conversations with her husband and how welcoming she was just to talk basketball and share some Sue stories with me and it’s just a lot of respect, you respect them from a distance and now to be up close and personal, I’m still kind of getting used to being mentioned in the same breath as some of these coaches and what they have done. I feel like I’ve been doing it for a couple of weeks and they have been doing it for a couple of decades.
So it’s a compliment to me and you talked about the other coach, I mean, you know, look at what Gail has done at Duke over the long haul and it keeps going in an upward swing direction. And the record speaks for itself. And everything Brenda’s touched, she’s turned to gold. And it’s not a surprise to us that it worked with her. All summer we watched the effort and I guess that’s part of the reason why they’re all here.
Q. For Coach, could you talk about Duke’s rebounding prowess in the tournament. They have had numbers in the 50s and 60 performance. What have they changed from last year?
POKEY CHATMAN: I don’t think you change, I just think as a coach of Gail’s caliber, you find an area that you want to improve upon and you have players that want to improve and want to get better and it’s a mindset. And it’s obviously something that they emphasize. They made a living off of it in terms of adding something else to their arsenal. And to me it’s a mindset, because we all can emphasize it, but until they buy into it, it’s not really good, it’s just on paper. And it’s a compliment to those players that want to participate in the not so glamorous portion of the game because they understand the significance of it.
Q. For Seimone, I assume you came back to school this year for the chance to win the NCAA title, and would you feel complete if you did not win it?
SCHOLANDA HOSTON: Yeah, I still would be feel complete. I’ll be disappointed, but it wouldn’t overshadow everything that’s happened here at LSU through my years here. I would still feel good about the situation and the fact that I made the decision to come here and do the things that we have done as far as making history here.
Q. Sylvia Fowles, I would like to ask you, it’s not that often, I don’t know how often I should say, that you play somebody in similar in height like tomorrow night with Alison Bales. What is that like with somebody who has at least an equal ability in size?
SYLVIA FOWLES: Believe it or not I like competition like that. I like somebody who is taller than me, who I’m going and banging on. Alison Bales is just a perfect match for me and we have to go out there and do what we have to do.
Q. Wanted to ask the players, the SEC for a long time has been the premier women’s basketball conference and a lot of people are making a lot of the ACC getting three teams this year, do y’all feel any extra incentive being the lone representative from the SEC, a non-ACC school to try to win, and also being Seimone’s last year here and Scholanda’s, to try to get that victory in the first round?
SEIMONE AUGUSTUS: We want to do this for us. It’s about going out there and playing our best basketball. Laying out there what we’re capable of. I think we have all the tools necessary. We have the players, we have the coaches, we have the game plan, we have Coach Starkey who stays up all night and breaks down film, and he’s the best at it. We have everything we need. And I think that’s the important thing. And that’s the reason why we feel like we’re extremely capable of going out there and doing it. All those other things, they’re good story lines, and they will look nice on paper, but when it comes down to it, it’s everybody that’s within this circle we want to do it for everybody in there.
Q. This is for Coach: Somebody said the other day that you would try to slow Duke down kind of sort of the way that Connecticut did. Gail said she didn’t see you coming out of what got you here, that the transition game is what you’re kind of about. Without giving away too many secrets, is it your plan to just play your game and just and let things fall as they may?
POKEY CHATMAN: I don’t think there are any secrets. I think we have 16 tapes on Duke. It’s never by design to slow a game down, you just go back and evaluate how you’ve been effective. You can run in transition and not necessarily get a shot out of it, and then make seven or eight passes in the half court. It’s not something that we’re going to emphasize and say, don’t take a shot until under 10. It’s not one of those things. It’s just we have been most effective when we have run half court offense and made the opposition defend us to get to the free throw line. And if that means the game ends up in the 50s or 60s, that’s an area where we have been good, but it’s not something that we’re going to try to emphasize.
Q. This is for Seimone and Pokey: A lot of the national media has kind of grasped on to the Katrina story with the men’s team, and they have been showing that, I’m wondering how many of that do you actually get, have you gotten a lot of questions, comments considering that and is it something that you feel you’re playing for? Scholanda just said you’re playing for the school, do you also feel some state pride as well?
SCHOLANDA HOSTON: Always. We want to represent our state as best as we can. And, yes, we do hear a lot about the Katrina thing. And I think that helps motivate us. We witnessed everything that happened firsthand and the way we had to, I guess, adjust and adapt to that situation, only helped us with our season as far as focusing in on what we have to do. Just those adverse situations, it was much easier for to us come out here and play for this extended period of time. The Katrina victims, they really helped inspire us. We were able to go out and speak with them, try to help as much as we can. So we feel like to some extent that we can give them two and a half, three hours out of the day just to enjoy a good basketball game, that’s what we’re going to do.
Q. Coaches often talk about the first five minutes of each half being relatively crucial, in your mind what do you need to see in the first five minutes of each half in order for it to be a successful night tomorrow night?
POKEY CHATMAN: Not to take away from your question, I think coaches are probably thinking of it more in terms of the first possession, because that sort of sets the stage. You play in five-minute increments, you’re playing to be short. Compliment to the field and where we are, you know, we talk about trying to make every possession our masterpiece. That could be on offense or defense. And that’s the approach we have to take. And that’s the compliment. How we want to play against Duke.
Q. Coach, Scholanda and Sylvia I’m wondering if you can all answer the question, is there something called the Seimone factor and can you describe what that is?
POKEY CHATMAN: How long is this press conference?
(Laughter.) You guys get to witness a very small portion of the Seimone factor. So much of what she’s doing is signature Seimone and it’s not that we don’t appreciate it, it’s just normal. In the locker room, at team functions, the star player being the biggest cheerleader or the silliest one on the team. There’s several things. And I’ll compliment Seimone how she’s grown as a person, athlete, through this team, with this team, the community, and she’s the child that Baton Rouge raised. And to see her on this stage, to continue to elevate her game is a compliment to her and we’re all better people, including Seimone. And she’s always throwing it back at us because certain times you get a player of her caliber and because of prior star players have maybe certain expectations, and she extinguished them immediately. And that’s what separates her.
SCHOLANDA HOSTON: Don’t make me say good things about her in front of her.
(Laughter.) Oh, I think that the biggest thing is outside of the basketball things, I said this before, that all the trophies and the awards and the accolades, I don’t think that’s what defines her. I think that the way she carries herself with all of that weight is what defines her, just being so humble and just not making you feel like she wears that all the time.
I have told so many people we practice and play with her every day and you forget sometimes that she’s the national Player of the Year and this trophy winner and that, because she just doesn’t exude that every day and makes it this big, big deal. She doesn’t have the huge ego that she could walk around with because of who she is. I think that’s the biggest thing.
SYLVIA FOWLES: I kind of agree with Scholanda and Coach Chatman. Just the person she is and all the weight she carries on her shoulders, you really wouldn’t know that she’s the national Player of the Year, once you’re around her every day. But just her goofiness off the court and it just sets her aside from everything.
Q. Seimone, how good is basketball in Baton Rouge? Youth basketball, high school. I know the men’s team has some players, too. Does that city get enough respect, because I don’t think people think of that as being a basketball hotbed.
SCHOLANDA HOSTON: Oh, you have to put us on that. Let me see how I can put it. In past years we were on top, but now we have declined a little. But we can take on any Miami girl. We can beat anybody in Miami. But at the time when I was coming up it was a very big part, basketball was the key thing in Baton Rouge and we, I mean, that’s mainly all we did. You see a lot of kids at the parks and rec centers, wherever we could get a game, that’s where we would be. And I think like Coach said, that this helped me, the city of Baton Rouge raised me.
Q. Question for Coach: How important will your bench players play in this game? Last year your bench players when you played Duke played a big part. How important will that be this year?
POKEY CHATMAN: Huge. I think that one of those bench players is now on the starting five. I think Sylvia had 13 and 11 last time out. And we struggled and she was a difference maker in that game. I think it’s huge. But I think every coach would say that, even more so for us because so often we have to hear about Sylvia and Seimone and I think we’re a two-man roster sometimes, and that’s early in the year. You get to this point, everyone understands that there’s a reason why those kids are at the forefront of what you do offensively. But I think from Florence Williams, I mean everyone, you know, just in terms of how we need to play in order to be successful is why they’re important.
Q. For Scholanda, I guess, so often this year you played as the favorite, you’re going into this game as the underdog, you said before you didn’t need any extra motivation, but do you like that challenge at least?
SCHOLANDA HOSTON: It’s welcomed. We still have to go out there regardless and play good basketball. This time of year, I don’t think there are any underdogs. These are four great teams that all want to walk away from here Tuesday night with a national championship. And that’s what you have to go out there and fight for. You have to go out there believing that you’re going to go out there and play your best basketball and that you’re capable of doing that. When you put that on the floor, that’s what has to be done. You’re going to have two great teams going against each other, where no numbers are going to matter.
DEBBIE BYRNE: Any final questions? If not, I’m going to let them go. Thank you very much, ladies.
Senior Guard Scholanda Hoston
On what changes need to be made in order to win:
“I think it’s a matter of going out there and focusing on playing our best basketball for two games. We have everything necessary ? we have the players, coaches and game plans. It’s going to be a matter of going out there and executing for 40 minutes. Staying completely focused on that, worrying about playing basketball and winning basketball games”
On guarding Monique Currie:
“We need the entire team on defense. I know I’m going to be the primary defender on her, but our team does such a great job of never leaving me out there on my own. You’re not going to shut a player like her out, she’s a great player. You’re never going to stop her completely from scoring ? you just want to make every shot she gets difficult.”
Sophomore guard Erica White
On whether she is nervous heading into the Final Four:
“I’m not nervous right now. I think nerves come when you think about things that may go wrong. Instead, I choose to be excited. I think about the possibilities of things that could go right. This is a tremendous opportunity to do something that we’ve never done before, and that’s simply by winning a game here.”
On how she’s grown throughout the season:
“I think I’ve grown a lot. Coming into the year, I was focused on more parts of my game. I just wanted to show my talent. I’ve really been focused on being ready to lead the team on the floor and off of it. I think that’s where most of my improvements came ? with my mental growth.”
Senior guard Seimone Augustus
On what it would mean to win the whole thing:
“It would mean a lot. I’ve always wanted to be able to do something special. This would be the ultimate thing, to bring a national championship back to my hometown, back to the state of Louisiana, especially with everything that’s happened there.”
On whether a championship would trump her individual accolades:
“Most definitely. I love the individual awards, but my whole motto is the team. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to get these individual awards.”
Sophomore center Sylvia Fowles
On last year’s Final Four as compared to this year’s:
“I’m still getting used to it. I think it’s still the same on and off the court, but I think my teammates are a little more focused this year. Everybody on the team understands their role and they know what they have to do in order to win this tournament.”
On how basketball has helped the team deal with Katrina:
“It helps out a lot – just to have a free mind and just to be away from all the stuff that’s going on in the environment. We can be ourselves once again and be around each other, so it took a lot of pressure off of us.”
An Interview With:
GAIL GOESTENKORS, ALISON BALES,
MONIQUE CURRIE &
MISTIE WILLIAMS
DEBBIE BYRNE: We’re joined by Coach Goestenkors and Alison Bales, Monique Currie and Mistie Williams from Duke. We’ll start with an opening statement from Coach and then go right to questions.
GAIL GOESTENKORS: Just excited to be here as I’m sure all the teams are. It was certainly a battle to get here. And I think when you look across, we all had at least one game that we really had to fight through that came right down to the bitter end to determine who would get to the Final Four.
So we are extremely pleased to be here and looking forward to playing LSU.
DEBBIE BYRNE: And we’ll go to questions.
Q. Coach, three teams from the ACC and all three top three in the nation in scoring in points, do you think this is the kind of venue for the style of play of ACC and has it always been such a fast-paced style in the time you’ve been there?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: It’s grown. The style of play has certainly improved. I think it’s always been a running conference. I came from the Big-10, I was at Purdue for several years and at that time it was more physical conference. And when I came to the ACC, that’s the first thing that I noticed is that there was much more running and pressing in the ACC.
I think the teams have just continued to improve from top to bottom.
Q. Coach, I would like to piggyback on that question slightly, is the running game instead of a trend, becoming the norm now in the women’s game?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: I think more and more, you’re seeing it more and more. I think that the players, I think again it all comes back to the high schoolers that are coming into college. They have been playing since they were in third, fourth — organized basketball now since third, fourth, fifth grade.
So they understand the game and it’s a much more exciting game. The fans like it, the players like it, so I think we’re seeing much more of it. So I do think it’s a trend.
Q. Monique, you’ve stated before how you came back for this year for a shot at the national championship. Can you elaborate on how much it means to you.
MONIQUE CURRIE: Well, it means a lot to be back here. I think we worked really hard this season so that we could prepare ourselves to make this next step.
It’s been a goal of ours since the beginning of the year to win a national championship and to get over that hump of getting past the Elite Eight and finally making it here. It means a lot to me and it means a lot to my teammates.
Q. Gail, is there a moment you can point to, kind of an a-ha moment where you said, it’s not just us in the ACC anymore, there’s other really good teams?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: I don’t think a particular moment, I think we started to see, probably not this year but last year, we have been pretty good for several years and North Carolina has been nipping at our heels. We had beaten them 12 straight times going into last year. So I think last year Maryland gave us a good run and North Carolina beating us three times, I think that’s when we could see, we knew Maryland was young and they had good recruits coming in and the rest of the teams were very competitive as well. So we felt like — I knew going into this year this would be the best year for our conference. Clearly.
Q. Coach, financially, your budget at your school, has it, have you seen increases over the last three or four years in that budget or have you had the money from day one to be competitive in the ACC?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: I think the budget continues to increase. I really don’t pay attention to it. I know I go over it every year, that’s about all I know. So I do what I think is necessary for us to be successful.
My athletic director, I see red lines all over the budget. He hasn’t done anything other than that to me thus far. So it’s worked out all right.
Q. Question for Monique: Who inspired you to play basketball and why?
MONIQUE CURRIE: Who inspired me? I don’t think I can like, necessarily pick one person that inspired me. But in my neighborhood everybody played basketball and at school everyone played basketball, so I just did that. And I enjoyed it. I played in rec leagues from when I was in the third grade, and so it was something that I was pretty good at and I enjoyed playing, so I just started playing because everyone else played.
Q. For the players, as students and athletes at Duke I wonder if you could talk a little bit about how distressing the events are that are going on at your campus right now and how they may impact you.
DEBBIE BYRNE: We’re not going to address any other questions regarding that topic at this press conference today, so we’re going to have to move on to the next question. Next question.
Q. For Gail, Connecticut slowed the pace down, obviously, and you called it the prettiest ugly win or whatever it was. Do you expect more of the same in the first game here being that there’s only one team here that’s not in the ACC?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: I don’t think so. I think that when you get to this point everybody, you know what got you here. You stick with what you’re good at, and LSU is a tremendous transition team. So I can’t really see them letting the air out of the ball at this stage in the game. They’re too good for that.
Q. The coaches talk about the first five minutes of each half being very crucial. In your mind what do you need to see in the first five minutes of each half to point towards success tomorrow night?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: I think aggressiveness on both ends of the floor. But also poise. You want to say aggressive but sometimes you’re so excited to get out there that you turn the ball over. So you want to stay aggressive, have that attack mindset, at the same time you want to show the poise necessary to take care of the basketball.
Q. Would you just offer a brief comment, please, on the other three coaches in this tournament.
GAIL GOESTENKORS: I think Pokey Chatman has just done an incredible job considering the adversity that their program has gone through over the last several years with the loss of Coach Gunter and then with Hurricane Katrina. I can’t even imagine all that they have been through and she’s really handled it with great style and grace. I think she’s an exceptional coach.
Brenda Frese, she’s one of the up and coming coaches in America. She is extremely passionate and highly motivated. Does a great job getting her teams prepared and making adjustments throughout the game. And I just have the utmost respect for her.
Then I think Sylvia Hatchell, she’s Coach of the Year this year and I think deservedly so. I don’t think anybody came close to her this year in what she’s been able to accomplish with her team. They play, I think, one of the most exciting brands of basketball in the women’s game. I think that people love to watch them play. I think they’re good for TV as well.
I think that they will get people that aren’t typically women’s basketball fans, if they just tune in for a little bit, and see them play, I think that they will come back for more. And I think she’s just done a tremendous job, really, with her team and this season in particular.
Q. Question for Coach: How do you rate LSU’s defense and do you see improvement from the team that you played last year?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: Most definitely. I think we’re both improved defensively. And I watched the game that we had with them last year and it was like a slugfest. We were both, we walked the ball down the floor most of the time and our defense, we both had numerous breakdowns defensively. I feel like we’re both in a different place now. We’re both much better and specifically I think Seimone has really improved her defense and Erica White, there’s been a lot on her young shoulders, but I think she’s handled it tremendously. And she pushes tempo, but she also does a great job pressuring the ball on the defensive end of the floor. Then Sylvia, I think, last year she was still learning the game. She was a great athlete, but not necessarily a great player. This year she’s a great player.
Q. For Alison, can you talk about the particular challenges Sylvia will present for you. You’re one of the few players that she will have played who is a little bit taller, she may be a little bit quicker than you, what are the challenges and what are you going to try to do against her?
ALISON BALES: Well, like Coach said, she’s a great player and I think that our whole post group will share the responsibility for guarding her. You will see me and Chante, we’ll all give her different looks throughout the game.
Q. Can you just comment on that a little, please, Coach?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: She’s, like I said, she’s just playing a tremendous basketball and she’s improved her skills. She might be one of the most improved offensive players of the year this year, from this year to last. So as Alison said, I think it’s going to take a team effort. And we don’t anticipate stopping her, that’s not an issue for us, we know that’s not really possible, we just need, hope to contain her. And it’s not as much her scoring that really breaks you down as it is her rebounding. Because when one individual gets 15 to 20 rebounds, it’s very demoralizing for a team.
Q. Coach, how important is this game for you personally just maybe get over the hump and get this program winning a few more of the big games?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: I really don’t feel like it’s important at all. I think being able to get to the Final Four four times is pretty nice. I feel very good about it. I know that our team is going to continue to be successful throughout my career and so I’m not, I don’t feel the pressure of trying to win another game or win two more games. I know that we can. And my job is to prepare my team the best way possible for them to do that.
So, but other than that, I really don’t feel any pressure.
Q. Gail, do you feel that the rise of the ACC and North Carolina in particular is finally allowing the women to sort of get their due on Tobacco Road, or do you feel that you’re still sort of fighting for recognition down there with all of the tradition of the men’s basketball?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: I think that we have had such great teams and in the triangle area in particular, NC State, they were in the tournament again this year, but they have been to the Final Four as well. So I think it’s been tough for us because we have great men’s basketball teams, as well as women’s basketball teams, so and we love it because it’s, we’re a great basketball school, and we really support one another. At times I think it’s hurt our attendance probably at all of our schools and media attention as well, because there’s only so much space in the paper and sometimes I think that with fans they pick and choose what teams to cheer for and which games to go to.
So we’re hoping now that since there aren’t any men’s teams still playing in the ACC, that perhaps some of them will, that haven’t been women’s basketball fans but are Duke fans or North Carolina fans, will now watch the women’s teams play and hopefully come back for more.
Q. Coach, I just want to ask you about rebounding. I know when you had that stretch at the end of the regular season where you really weren’t playing your best ball. You were pointing to turnovers. But you’re on pace for a tournament record for rebounding and I want to know what’s behind that or what you’ve been doing differently to rebound as well as you have?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: Well since the end of the ACC tournament that our main focus has been rebounding. So we have done — many days we do warm-up drills, that it’s, 10 minutes of just rebounding. Totally breaking down the rebounding, making sure we do the little things well. I thought we got to the point where we were just trying to outjump people. In certain games you can do that but in the big games you can’t get away with that anymore, and we learned that the hard way. And when we don’t box out, we have been making players run. Since the beginning of the season we hadn’t done that. So we went back to some of the things to make sure that the emphasis was to do the little things well in the rebounding category and it’s been paying off for us.
Q. Mistie, for you, talk a little bit about the balance that you have to have when you come to the Final Four, you want to have fun, there are distractions, you got to focus and work hard, just balancing that, all that, and if you could follow-up with how maybe Coach helps you guys stay a little loose and enjoy it all.
MISTIE WILLIAMS: Yeah, it’s really important for us to really remain focused. I remember my freshman year there’s a lot of hoopla and a lot of stuff going on and it’s really easy to get caught up in all of it. I think that just with the seniors, we’re just going to be focused on keeping everybody under wraps and letting everybody appreciate all of the things that are given to us and all of the attention that we are getting, but at the same time we are here for one thing and one thing only.
And I think that Coach, we really haven’t talked about it, but we can have fun with each other and not necessarily worry about what’s going on around the Final Four and just stick together. Because that’s what has made us so successful is that we are here together and we have accomplished something great, but we’re not finished.
Q. Monique, could you talk about what Alison has done to become a more all-around player?
MONIQUE CURRIE: Well, I think she’s just a lot more aggressive when she’s on the court, offensively and defensively. Last year we used to stress that we wanted her to be more aggressive on the offensive end because she would be aggressive on the defensive end, but then she wouldn’t really demand the ball and this year she’s really done a good job of doing that and I think she’s a lot more confident, which helps her in games and be more willing to take chances or make a move or shoot the ball when she gets it.
Q. Is there a time you remember when she really demanded the ball?
MONIQUE CURRIE: Well, um, I don’t know a time in particular, but when she pulls me over and it was like, “I was open, you could have given me the ball,” then I know that she really wants it and she wants to do something with it.
Q. Coach, could you talk a little bit about the impact that Abby Waner has had in the tournament and whether she’s been everything you expected or more than you expected.
GAIL GOESTENKORS: I think Abby’s, she’s played her best basketball right now, which is exactly what you hope for as a coach. I think she came in playing great basketball and then she lost her confidence a little bit, which happens with freshmen quite often. But she always remained positive and she fought through and she never lost faith in herself. And I think that was huge and I think her teammates really helped her through as well.
But every time she shoots I think that as a coach and I think her teammates believe it’s going in. Sometimes it was to the point where we believed more than she did. But I think that they helped her and we all tried to help her understand that one, she can’t be so hard on herself, which she is, she’s a perfectionist, and two, that she needs to shoot for us to be successful. And we believe in her and I think that now she is believing in herself again, which is important.
Q. How big an impact has she been in the tournament?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: Well, she’s been huge. When she came in and she, last two games in particular she’s hit big shots right away when she came in. Even though one was a bank shot, which she did not call, it was a three and it gave us momentum and she had a big old smile on her face and that’s what we needed to see, that she was relaxed and ready to play and believed in herself.
And even just the way she’s carrying herself, even if she doesn’t hit a shot, she’s carrying herself with such confidence and poise that I think that it makes us all better.
Q. Gail, and the players, what’s one thing you have to do differently against LSU compared to last year in the Regional?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: Well, I think last year we had eight players and when I watched the tape again I could clearly see we ran out of gas. So I think that this year we need to use our depth to our advantage. Last year it was a disadvantage, and this year I think it could be an advantage for us.
DEBBIE BYRNE: Any of the players? Any different answer? If not, we’ll move on. No.
MONIQUE CURRIE: Just win. That’s different.
(Laughter.)
DEBBIE BYRNE: Good answer.
Q. Gail, can you think back to ’99 when you as a new coach of a Final Four brought a team that hadn’t been to the Final Four before, what’s that experience like, say, from when you win a Regional final to maybe that first moment when you’re here. Can you talk about that.
GAIL GOESTENKORS: I think that the first year, in ’99 when we came for the first time it was coming off of a huge upset win over Tennessee. And so the elation of that game was such that it almost overshadowed the fact that we were going to the Final Four. Because it was a David versus Goliath, so that was a huge story.
So it was a totally a whirlwind from that point until we got here. And I don’t think I actually ever came down off of cloud nine until I was back home after we had lost to Purdue in the championship. So I almost didn’t have time to really catch my breath and understand what was happening to us. And once you get here for the first time, it is really, truly overwhelming with all of the media exposure and all of the events that you’re required to go to, the game itself is just two hours and probably it’s the one thing that you actually want to do is play the game, but everything that surrounds it is extremely overwhelming.
Q. Gail and any of the players, what does Augustus do better than any other player you faced this year, and do you think she’s the best player in the country?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: Seimone moves without the basketball and reads screens better than any player in the country.
If she’s the best player in the country? I think we have got a pretty good player here as well. I think she’s certainly one of the best players in the country. It’s hard to compare all the players because they all do something a little different, we’re comparing point guards, wings and posts.
Q. Question for Monique: Could you talk about the way that LSU defended you last year and what did you learn from that experience?
MONIQUE CURRIE: Well, Hoston guarded me last year and I’m pretty sure she will probably guard me again this year. She’s an excellent defender, she’s long and she’s aggressive. She was all over me for the entire game and I just think I need to do a better job of moving when I don’t have the ball and definitely setting up and using my screens to get open, because that’s the only way I could probably shake her off, because she is a really, really good defender. But we set good screens, so I’ll have to use those.
Q. For the players, after the losses to North Carolina there’s been a perception that Duke may be the more talented team but maybe is not quite their match in terms of physical and mental toughness. How do you respond to that, that maybe you’re more finesse than toughness? Have you worked on that or is that something that you accept?
MISTIE WILLIAMS: I definitely don’t think it has anything to do with, like, a mental toughness. I definitely think with our size and the way the style that we play that it’s not as finesse as you’re stating that maybe you’ve heard. Our team is very physical and we play with a lot of heart and a lot of passion. I just think that on those typical occasions, those occasions that you’re speaking of we just had defensive breakdowns and let them get on runs and really didn’t capitalize on their weaknesses and let them play to their strengths. So we just really had to come back and kind of bring everything back and just collect, and just kind of reflect on what we could have done better and how we were going to change it. And I think that that two-week span where we didn’t play, we really just capitalized on how we’re going beat any team that we would face in this tournament.
Q. Coach, you mentioned the 12 straight wins against North Carolina and you guys are had such a good run there for several years in the ACC, do you feel like that that has helped the whole ACC get better? Do you feel like the rest of the programs realize they had to compete with that and that’s brought everybody up to this level?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: I do. I feel like, and the other coaches told me that in the ACC that they had to, they felt that they had to do a better job recruiting to compete with us. Because we did go on that run where we won 50-some straight games and I think that it really, it was tough at the time I’m sure for them but at the same time it made them better because they knew the type of player we were recruiting against Tennessee, and UCONN and they needed to recruit against us as well. So I think the entire league has really stepped up its recruiting efforts and you can see that when you look down the line the last couple of years at the top recruiting classes, several ACC teams have been in the top five.
Q. Gail, you talked about just no men left for the ACC, but has it created a buzz even within your area within Durham and Chapel Hill and then also within the conference itself having the three teams?
GAIL GOESTENKORS: It has. Our entire conference I think is so proud and we talked in the preseason about the fact that we had several teams we thought could make it to the Final Four and that we thought we had the best conference overall from top to bottom, but until you actually back it up in the NCAA tournament, it’s just all talk.
So now I think that our commissioner, he’s here, and the assistant commissioner are here and I think they’re so proud and to be the first conference to have three women’s teams in the Final Four I think is pretty special.
DEBBIE BYRNE: On that note we’ll say thank you very much to these ladies.
Junior Guard Lindsey Harding
On Duke’s Story:
“We have a lot of experience, we’ve been here before, we know what it takes. A lot of people have been here before, like myself, who kind of took the Final Four for granted their first year, and didn’t realize that it doesn’t come every single year. We just have a lot of heart and passion. We all know what it takes to get here, it’s just a matter of finishing. We’ve never quite finished yet.”
Sophomore guard Wanisha Smith
On facing Seimone Augustus:
“She brings a lot to the table – she’s a very, very good player. I think she [Augustus] will be my toughest matchup because she does so many things. You can’t just take away one aspect of her game.”
On what it means to have three ACC teams in the Final Four:
“It states that the ACC is a very tough conference. We’ve prepared each other for this time of the tournament [the Final Four] by playing each other once or twice in the regular season, so I think it makes all of us tougher and makes each of us better.”
Senior guard Jessica Foley
On trying to win head coach Gail Goestenkors’ first national title:
“I think it’s been a long time coming for her. She’s built such a tremendous program and we’ve been right up there at the top. We’ve been ranked No. 1 at the beginning and the end of seasons, but just haven’t come back with a national championship. Sooner or later we’re going to do it, and hopefully this is the class that’s going to do it for her.”
Freshman guard Abby Waner
On how important it will be to control the team’s emotions on Sunday night:
“You just have to approach it like every other game. Granted, we are in the Final Four and there’s going to be 25,000 people there, but you just have to play it like you play every other game ? being consistent is key. I think emotions will be running high for each team but hopefully, we can keep ours in check as to where it’s an advantage for us instead of putting us out of sorts which is something we don’t normally do.”
Sophomore guard Emily Waner
On getting through this next game:
“Just do what we’ve been doing all season. How we’ve began building this in the fall, we knew that with so many people on the team, we were going to come together, pull together and everyone was going to have to get along. If you look in the last game, I remember half way through the Connecticut game, we weren’t playing so well and everyone held on to each other and said we’re not ready for this to end.”
An Interview With:
SYLVIA HATCHELL,
IVORY LATTA,
LA?TANGELA ATKINSON, CAMILLE LITTLE
DEBBIE BYRNE: We’re going to let Coach Hatchell make an opening statement and then we’ll go to your questions.
SYLVIA HATCHELL: I believe you were a former coach. Giving all the information. That’s good.
We’re, of course, like all the other teams, excited to be here. We’re just enjoying the experience and having a lot of fun. This is a special team, as you can tell. These young ladies up here, and we’re just excited about playing a great Maryland team. We have already played them and we know what a great team they are. So it should be an exciting game tomorrow.
DEBBIE BYRNE: Questions.
Q. If there’s one thing that seems to tie all four teams together it’s they all run well, at least they are very good transition teams. Some of it is ACC style, but is this also now the trend in women’s basketball?
SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well I hope it’s the trend in women’s basketball, because I like it. But you’re right, that’s a very similar characteristic of all the teams; they go up and down the floor, run the ball well, they all have a strong inside-outside game. And just good balance, good flow. And I think all four teams here are a lot of fun to watch play.
So I agree with you 100 percent.
Q. Coach, to flip the coin on that, how important will it be for your team to execute in the half court set if Maryland is able to take you out of the, or at least not take you out, but at least limit your abilities to run?
SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, I think Maryland likes to run too. They score a lot of points. Our games this year it was 98-95 and then 91-80. That’s a lot of points for both teams.
Plus I think it’s great for women’s basketball that people see the talents and the skills and abilities of all the players. But we’re known for our fast break, but of course if you know our team, and our coaches, we keep a lot of detailed stats and records in our grading charts and all that. And actually our percentages in the half court offense are above 50 percent this year. So I really think that we have executed well in our half court offense, especially when we had to. Now, yeah, we like to fast break, but when we need to run a half court offense, we have executed well, especially in pressure situations down the stretch. And especially in some recent games.
Q. Sylvia, as the dean of the coaches here, would you just offer a comment on your colleagues, especially the young Coaches Brenda and Pokey, please.
SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, dean, man, you make me feel old.
(Laughter.) The only time when somebody says dean that I think would make me feel real good is they compare me to Dean Smith, to tell you the truth.
But it’s an honor to be here and I think we got a lot of good young coaches now out there. Pokey was a great player and took over for Sue Gunter and just again, she has brought her expertise as a player to the game. Her intensity or her passion. I’ve gotten to know her real well in the last few years. We have a special relationship. We have talked a lot about on Nike trips and other times about transition game. I think we have a lot of the same philosophy with motion offenses and defensive concepts and stuff, so I really have enjoyed the relationship I’ve built with her.
And then in our league, you know, the team or the coaches, it just gets better and better every year. I know a few years ago we played Minnesota, whenever Brenda was there, we played them in the NCAA tournament and we beat them in Chapel Hill by just a point or two. And I said right then, you know, I told Minnesota they better take care of her or somebody is going to grab her and they did. But Brenda has done a good job at Maryland and she and I have talked about a lot of things. She’s asked my opinion about some different things, so, but it’s great for the game, especially in our league.
And of course Gail has been at Duke awhile. And we’re just big rivals, but we have a healthy rivalry. We have tremendous respect for each other and our programs and I think we make each other better. So it’s just a lot of fun right now to coach and to see a lot of the younger players coming, a lot of the younger coaches coming through and actually last night at the banquet and I was thinking about a lot of the young former young players that are now into coaching and some of them that are assistant coaches other places and I was just thinking that a few years from now a lot of these kids are going to be head coaches, so it’s a lot of fun to see them carrying on their passion and love for the game.
Q. Coach, you obviously have a lot of success then you had a stretch against Duke where it was kind of tough. What turned it around for you and you just talked about how you made each other better, what did they do that made you better?
SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, it’s called Alana Beard graduating is what it’s called. It was hard for to us beat them when Alana Beard was there. But again, like I mentioned, I think in our league, not just Duke, but all of our teams, we make each other better. The level of our conference competitively has increased tremendously in the last few years and it’s not just Carolina, Duke and Maryland, I mean Boston College was almost here; we got a lot of great teams in our league.
So, I think that again, you know, we have gotten some great players and in our recruiting the last few years, I think our style of play fits our players. And as a coach, when I was younger, I wanted to prove myself as a coach, but with different things that we accomplished. Now I don’t have to prove myself as a coach, the main thing now is I just want my players to experience success and I want to see the smiles on their faces. I want them to have fun and I want it to be one of the best times of their lives and I just want to help them grow as basketball players and as people, and that’s where I get my enjoyment from. So I’m having a blast.
Q. What are the things that your team has to do to match up against Maryland?
SYLVIA HATCHELL: What do we need to do to match up with Maryland? Well, maybe we need to recruit you.
(Laughter.) Well, we have already played them a couple times and I just think there’s a lot of good one-on-one match-ups on the floor, at every position. They’re outstanding and we are too, I think a lot of the little things will make a difference, I think it will come down a lot of it to rebounding, and just whichever team the ball is going in the hole for tomorrow.
Q. To the players, Maryland was the only team that defeated you this year, do you think whatever questions you had you solved in the ACC tournament title game or are there still some things you have to be concerned about tomorrow night?
IVORY LATTA: Could you repeat the question, please?
(Laughter.)
Q. Maryland was the only team that beat you this year. When you defeated them in the tournament game do you think you solved all the holes they might have found or are there still some things you as a team have to be concerned about tomorrow night?
LA’TANGELA ATKINSON: Well, since we lost to Maryland, we improved in practice and we got better throughout the game. So just improving throughout practice and the rest of our games we kind of solved everything during practice.
Q. Coach, with Ivory, do you almost have to suppress some coaching instincts with her, I mean there are things you would maybe normally tell a player not to do that you have to let her do? And I think maybe the answer is yes, maybe Ivory might want to comment on this too.
IVORY LATTA: That’s for the coach.
SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, I think with accountability and responsibility, when you show those characteristics, you get more privileges. And Ivory has proven herself to me when she came in as a freshman. I let her make a lot of mistakes, because I knew that it was going to pay off in the long run. Of course she was skilled when she came in, her ball handling was excellent, her three-point shooting was excellent. But I think that her knowledge as a point guard, her decision making, just her experience, the experience in our league has just paid off tremendously for Ivory, but I’ve coached her long enough that we can look at each other and pretty much know what we’re thinking and she knows what I want done out on the floor, and I can make a little gesture to her and she knows exactly what I’m talking about without saying anything. But again, because she’s been accountable and showed responsibility on the floor and decision making in pressure situations, then I give her more freedom because she’s proven herself.
IVORY LATTA: Yeah, right. I think Coach pretty much said it all. But it comes down to, I think it all goes down to confidence and she has a lot of confidence in me and that right there just builds up my confidence to go out there and perform to the best of my ability, but I’m just happy that she’s given me the opportunity to go out there and do the things that I do. That’s my girl.
(Laughter.)
Q. Sylvia asked Gail this question just a little while ago, but do you feel like the rise and the success of the ACC has finally kind of allowed the women to get their due on Tobacco Road or do you feel like you still need to fight for recognition, considering the tradition there?
SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, basketball is basketball and our men have had a tradition for a long, long time. And it’s just, there’s just no rivalries and there’s just nothing like ACC basketball. I grew up a men’s basketball fan. That’s one reason why I wanted the job at North Carolina.
It’s a wonderful environment to be in. You just can’t express what the feeling is like when you’re in the area we’re in, of course on our campus it’s tremendous. It’s just such an honor to be on that campus with former coaches like Dean Smith, Bill Guthridge, now with Roy Williams there, it’s just so, it’s a basketball coaches heaven, paradise really, and then with all the other coaches coming in, I’ve made friends with a lot of the coaches, of course all the women’s coaches, but men’s coaches too. A lot of them when they come to town they will call me up. Bobby Cremins and I are good buddies, and Dave Odom, he’s out in South Carolina, so it’s just a wonderful feeling, I guess you could say with the relationships that we have and I don’t look at it as men and women’s basketball, I look at it as ACC and basketball. I think the women have really put the ACC on the map this year with three teams being in the league. And I’m telling you, the ACC women may be better next year. I know you think, well how can it be better, but it could be better because I think a lot of the teams are going to be even better next year.
So, but all the coaches get along well, it’s a tremendous relationship that we have, yesterday some people were asking a lot of questions about us and Duke, you know, yeah, we’re eight miles apart, but we have a lot of respect for each other and we make each other better. I think one reason why we’re both here is because we make each other better.
So it gets some attention at times but I think both teams do really well to keep things in perspective. And we really, like I said, we both have tremendous respect for each other.
Q. For Ivory, you’ve been on TV enough now that you’re a recognizable face around America. And you really are emotional on the court. Some people have said that sometimes it looks as though you’re showing up the other team or like Diana Taurasi before you, people kind of have a negative impression, some people, and a lot have a positive impression, can you comment on that?
IVORY LATTA: No, I just came to the conclusion. No matter what I do, people are going to say the things they want to say, but as long as I’m out there having fun and enjoying myself and my teammates enjoying it, as long as I’m not doing anything to hurt my teammates or disrespect my coach or my school, I’m just going to keep doing it. And until coach says, hey, you know, don’t do that anymore, then I’m not going to do it. But she knows from the bottom of my heart that I’m not going to go out there and do anything to disrespect the other team or disrespect the university. I’m out there having fun and I’m going to keep doing it. My little dances, my smiles, my anything, I’m just going to have fun out there. That’s what she always tells us before we leave the locker room is main thing is to have fun. And that’s what I’m going to keep doing. Yeah.
Q. Coach, along those similar lines can you kind of put into words what Ivory does, both with her play and her mentality to kind of help the team and also you’ve kind of compared her ease in front of the camera with I think a Marian Jones, the last point guard, can you kind of expound upon that too a little bit?
SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, first of all, Ivory is a great kid. And let’s start with the foundation, because I’m very southern, as you can tell, and there’s an old saying “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” And she has a wonderful family. Her mother and daddy, just the environment she grew up in, we had time I could tell you about her home visit, that must have been what, close to a hundred people at her house there. And the whole house was full, we had the windows up, people were sitting in the windows, they were sitting on top of the furniture, it was just unbelievable. We had a big feast, a big feast. And it was on Sunday, went to church together and then went to the house, all teachers were there, and family members and all the boys that used to play on the court with her. It was a wonderful day. What a great time we had.
But Ivory is first of all, she’s for real. She’s for real. And she has a heart and a passion for the game of basketball. Ivory is very concerned about her image. She wants to project a strong positive image to everyone that is involved with the game. She has tremendous respect for everyone on the court, the opponents, the referees, the media, everyone. She’s just, I think she’s great for the women’s game right now because she’s such a positive role model. And she’s very concerned and very aware of little kids. If she’s in a big room full of people, I mean, even if the president of the United States was probably in the room and there were little kids in there, Ivory would go to the little kids. I don’t know if she’s drawn to them or they’re drawn to her because of her size.
(Laughter.) Stop kicking me, Ivory. But she’s just has a heart and a passion for the game. And again, even though Ivory gets some individual awards, she’s really all about her team. She wants to uplift, to lift up her team and bring recognition to them. And just the example is that the ACC Tournament there, in the final game, when the clock was running down and she called her, one of her teammates that had played a great game. Erlana and gave her the game ball, wanted her to have the game, the ball the last few minutes. And then when they gave her the MVP award, she looked at me and says, “I don’t deserve this, Erlana does.” And I said, “Well, tell her that.”
So she’s always lifting up her teammates and trying to make them better and just a great kid. And her excitement and enthusiasm and passion for the game it makes people smile. It makes people feel good, it makes people smile. I can’t tell you the number of letters and phone calls and e-mails we have gotten from people that have just said how she brightens their day.
And again, and I’ll finish, and I know I talked too long here, but I’ve been coaching a long time and one of my main goals, well right now the first goal is to win games for the University of North Carolina, but second of all is promote the game. And I feel like the way we play and having a player like Ivory sells the game of basketball. Because I want people to fall in love with women’s basketball. And that’s one reason why we go up and down the floor. Because I want them to score a lot of points and make it exciting and fun. I don’t like low-scoring games. I made the comment, it’s sort of like watching paint dry. I like to go up and down the floor and that’s what we’re all about. I don’t like slow games.
Q. I’m going to hold you to five minutes on this one. Seriously, Coaches do talk about the first five minutes of each half. The importance of the first five minutes of each half. What do you need to see in your mind in the first five minutes of each half for it to be a successful night tomorrow night?
SYLVIA HATCHELL: Intensity. Aggressiveness on offense and defense. The intensity level. And we have started this year mostly well. We did not start well in the Purdue game. But then in also a few games in the second half we come out of the locker room not with the intensity level. I call a quick time-out and then we get to the intensity level that we need.
So I think just the intensity level that we come out with on both ends of the floor.
Q. Coach, for three teams to be from one conference, do the stars kind of have to align to get these teams all here?
SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, it’s interesting how all three teams got here, but I’m not surprised at all. Because they all deserve it and they’re all very, very good. So I’m just glad we’re all in different brackets. So we could be here.
I’m not surprised at all. That is just how good our conference is. And it may be even better in the future.
Q. Ivory, I could tell by the look on your face that when she was describing the home visit that’s pretty much how it went. Can you explain why everyone was there, I would think you would want to have that to yourself?
IVORY LATTA: Yeah, that many people I think that was pretty much my whole town. So I don’t know. I just know that they have been following me throughout my whole career at North Carolina and they’re very supportive and I just know that when I told them that North Carolina was coming, everybody just wanted to come. So my mom, she cooked up a big feast for everybody and we didn’t know that many people was going to come. People started showing up that I ain’t know who they were. I’m like, all right, they coming with North Carolina shirts on. Well, I’m like you know what, just go ahead and enjoy yourself.
But they have been very supportive with me throughout my career. And I just can’t thank them enough for the things they done for me.
Q. Coach, do you think in the past women’s players more reluctant to show emotion on the court and was there more so than men’s players?
SYLVIA HATCHELL: I don’t know. I never really thought about that, to tell you the truth. I don’t know. Maybe you ought to ask the players that. I don’t know. I’m usually not speech less, but I don’t know.
LA’TANGELA ATKINSON: I don’t know.
IVORY LATTA: Oh, I think it’s great for the game to be honest. Because they say a lot of women shouldn’t do a lot of things and men are able to do it, but whenever we go out there and show emotion and just show our passion for the game also, and we like to go out there and fight hard and dive for balls and hustle and play with a lot of intensity. So without emotion in the game, I think that it would be pretty much boring, yeah. I think I think that sums it all up.
Q. Just a follow-up in that vein: Isn’t it fundamentally sexist to criticize women for doing what in the men’s game would be celebrated as attractive flamboyance?
SYLVIA HATCHELL: I don’t know. I would have to think about that a little bit. We just try to do what helps us be successful. In being emotional on the floor and showing our, like Ivory said, our passion and enthusiasm for the game, it helps us. And I’m going to tell you, we enjoy it. We show our love and our heart and our passion for the game and for each other and I let our players have a lot of fun out there. They enjoy the experience and they enjoy each other, and the chemistry on our team is absolutely incredible. Just because we got a lot of great players on our team, but they know that they are ten times better with each other than they are by themselves.
So they work really, really hard just to keep that chemistry going and to let each other know how much they appreciate each other. And I think that’s real important. They are constantly giving words of affirmation and affirming each other and how important they are. So, but the emotion out there, I don’t know, I just know I used to think that men’s coaches in women’s basketball they could carry on on the sideline and if they got a technical, that was fine. No big deal. But if a female coach got a technical, then, oh, you know, that was… and I know, I’ve felt that way. So maybe that’s in the same ballpark, I don’t know. But all I know is that we’re going to play with a lot of heart and passion and have fun.
Q. Coach, just wondering if any of North Carolina’s opponents came up with any creative schemes to stop Ivory and slow the transition game down, any kind of novel defenses?
SYLVIA HATCHELL: Well, let’s see, trying to think. We have played some great teams. They played a lot of good defense. Tennessee put a big player on her. We have had some of them do that. I think that from my perspective as a coach, as teams try to double her or put a big player on her, or different things like that, then I’ll tell her we’ll run something to get a mismatch or make them switch off, or if it’s a trap, then we’ll do something to let her break the trap or I have two point guards in there lots of times, if you watch us play, then the other one will bring it up the floor and then that — if there are two of them trying to guard her, then somebody is open.
So again, we have had — I tell you, when we played the first game in the NCAA tournament, Riverside. Yeah. And it was at Vanderbilt and we sit underneath the baskets, there the benches are on the end and so we were sitting underneath the basket and I noticed that when they would shoot the ball, all five of them just took off running to the other end of the floor, but none of them went for an offensive rebound. I looked at my assistant coach, I said, you think they were afraid of our fast break there? All five of them, not a one of them went to the offensive boards. They would shoot the ball and take off. All five of them. So I felt that was interesting.
(Laughter.)
But I don’t know. There’s a lot of different strategies you can use. But again, Ivory is not our whole team. We have got a lot of good players on the floor. Camille can play point guard if she needs to. Sometimes she brings it up the floor because she throw it in for us. Tangie can bring it up the floor. We put Tangie in the middle, we give her the ball and then she attacks the basket. So we have a lot of things that we can do. So it’s just not Ivory.
DEBBIE BYRNE: Thank you very much, ladies. Appreciate your time up here.
Sophomore Forward Erlana Larkins
What are your thoughts on being in the Final Four?
I am just really excited to be here. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that not many go through in their collegiate career. My mom gets to come and my high school coach is down here. I’m just glad we are here.
On three teams from the ACC being in the Final Four:
I think we represent the best conference in the nation and to have the top three teams from the ACC is a great credit to the conference.
Sophomore Forward LaToya Pringle
How has the team matured over the course of the season?
I know that we were a good team but when we beat Connecticut we thought we could win the ACC, go to the Final Four and possibly win the national championship. That game (beating Connecticut) proved to our fans, the critics and especially ourselves that we can beat anyone. Connecticut was a great team. Duke was a turning game too but after it happened a second time and then a third time, I was really excited. After that, I thought we are back on top and we are going to be here for a while.
How is this team different from last year’s team?
I think this year is way different than last year. We are much more confident this year. You can see that by how relaxed we are in practice. We are never really nervous and when it comes time to take care of business, we know it’s time to do what we have to do.
Senior Guard Jessica Sell
On the positives and negatives of playing Maryland twice already:
I think it is great that we played them twice. I feel like we are familiar with them and we have made each other better by having that competition all year long. I feel like they are really familiar with us as well and it might be to our advantage to play a team that has never seen us because our pressure and our intensity surprise some people whereas Maryland has seen us twice. But I think there are more pros than cons.
On other teams being intimidated by them:
I feel like our pressure does intimidate people. It would intimidate me if I was playing against it. I think our style of play is very unique and I feel like it takes a lot of teams by surprise.
Freshman Guard Heather Claytor
On playing against her friend, Maryland guard Kristi Toliver
We are friends before and friends after but during the game, it’s strictly basketball. My teammates give me a hard time. When we played them at home, I gave her a hug. It’s your best friend, what are you going to do.
Sophomore Guard Alex Miller
On what she has learned from teammate Ivory Latta:
How to push the ball up more. How to play defense better because it’s hard to guard her. Everyone says, if you can guard Ivory, you can guard anybody.
AN INTERVIEW WITH:
COACH BRENDA FRESE
SHAY DORON
CRYSTAL LANGHORNE
MARISSA COLEMAN
DEBBIE BYRNE: We’re joined by the Maryland team along with Coach Frese. We’ll ask the coach to make an opening statement and then we’ll go to your questions. Coach Frese.
BRENDA FRESE: All right. Well, obviously we’re extremely excited to be here. We obviously also want to welcome Pokey Chatman and LSU to the ACC tournament part two. And obviously want to extend an invitation out, we would love to have them come join our league, if they would like to be a part of it.
But we obviously feel very fortunate. We kind of feel like the new kid on the block kind of coming in here crashing the party. Knowing that this team and this program is obviously ahead of schedule. But I’ll tell you, we’re just enjoying and loving every single minute that we get to be a part of this.
It couldn’t happen to better people. I tell you. These kids are the ones that have taken us for this ride. They’re a ton of fun to be able to be around and I’ll tell you, I think we lead the nation in smiles with how much fun that we’re having. But we are definitely honored to be a part of, it’s a special place, making history in our conference, and to really be a part of coming here to the Final Four, and when I think back to four short years ago, when this team and this season went through a 10-18 season, to the point of Debbie Yow, when she hired me here at Maryland and having the same vision that we shared together. And to be living out that dream is something that I tell you is really a dream come true.
Obviously from our first opponent, North Carolina, I think you could ask the players, at this point I think both teams could give the scouting report that they know each other inside and out. Both teams are excited about the match-up, having split with North Carolina during the season. North Carolina obviously has a wealth of talent and we’re just going to try to go out and execute our game plan, and we’re probably the only team in the country though that is hoping for overtime, because in overtime that’s our time. So just looking forward to getting out on the floor tomorrow night.
DEBBIE BYRNE: Thank you, Coach. We’ll go to your questions now, please.
Q. Brenda and any of the players, to what extent does the fact that you’re playing a very familiar opponent help you get over whatever concerns you have about being here for the first time?
BRENDA FRESE: I think it gives us a tremendous amount of confidence. You’re not having to use that first 10, 20 minutes, the first half of the game to get used to each other’s style. We already know from the tip that this game’s going to be a track meet, both teams love to score, they love offense. And I think you’re going to see a game from the tip that’s just going to be up tempo right away.
Q. For those of us that didn’t have chance to see the game with North Carolina that you won, what went right that game in bringing that victory to you?
BRENDA FRESE: I think that one we gained a lot of confidence. We were down by about 10 or 11 at half-time. We thought that we had really not played a very good first half. We didn’t handle the press well.
But the second half I tell you we came out, we boarded with them, we were able to get a lot of second-chance opportunities. We just found a way. Obviously everyone can remember the last second shot by Ashleigh Newman that sent us into overtime, and the fact that going into overtime this team has gained a lot of confidence.
Q. Shay, in the last couple years you guys were one of the few teams that haven’t had as many problems with North Carolina’s 1-3-1 press, why is that?
SHAY DORON: I think the main thing is we have five ball handlers on the court. Crystal and Aurelie, our post players, can handle the ball as well as obviously the guards. And it’s the type of tempo we like to play. We like to play up and down and we kind of welcome the press. So not many teams press us all year because we kind of feed off of that and we do well against it.
So you just have to play smart and kind of read what happens and we do that pretty well. And with all our experience, it just helps us a lot.
Q. Coach Frese, how is your school’s financial commitment helped you in building your program there at Maryland over the last few years?
BRENDA FRESE: I’ll tell you, it starts with your administration. The support that we have from our athletic director, Debbie Yow, from president Mote, you know, they traveled to the ACC and the NCAA tournament, when you have that kind of support and backing with your administration and your university, you can see it across the board. If you look at Maryland athletics, every team has the opportunity to be successful because of the amount of support and backing that we have.
Q. As the new kid on the block could you offer an opinion about your three colleges who have been around the block here a few times?
BRENDA FRESE: Obviously I feel like I’m very fortunate because I get to coach in this conference, in the ACC, so I get to go against Sylvia and Gail, so I’ve been able to personally become better as a coach just from that level of competition. And Pokey Chatman and I, we enjoy the time that we get to spend together in the gym. The conversations that we get to have. So all three of them, just your personal relationships and professionally, I think that you can gain so much from watching, listening, and just the interactions that we have been able to have.
Q. Are you superstitious about anything and if so, what is it?
CRYSTAL LANGHORNE: No, I’m not superstitious at all. I just, I really don’t have any things that I do regularly. I just go out and I’m pretty, not superstitious at all.
Q. Shay, a few years ago when you signed with Maryland could you have imagined being here, and what made you take the leap of faith that Maryland would be a good place to go?
SHAY DORON: Well, obviously me and the coach, I knew that we had the same kind of mentality and winning drive, and the most important thing for me was the coaches and I found that here at Maryland. So that’s what really brought me here. But from day one where the year after we had a 10-18 season, the locker room talk was Final Four, national championship, ACC championship. So since I’ve been there that’s what we have been talking about since day one. And that hasn’t changed throughout the years and it’s not going to change when I leave.
So just kind of instill that mentality, that winning mentality, that we can do it and we can play with anyone, and it’s been there since I’ve gotten there. So nothing’s changed, it’s just that this team, it’s a reality and we definitely expected it and for us it’s not, you know, a quick thing and it’s not ahead of schedule for us, it’s a right-on-time thing.
Q. For the players: I realize the seeding is not comparable but at the same time are any of you drawing any parallels to George Mason because probably of the four teams you were the one that was the least thought to get to the Final Four.
SHAY DORON: Who thought that? Who always thought that? Not in our locker room, we think that not only we’re not the underdogs, but we should have gotten, we could have probably gotten No. 1 seed at the Selection Monday show. But like we said, the seeding really doesn’t matter at this point. Everybody has to play the same amount of games to get to the same point. We just want to play hard and we know we can compete with any team in the country. We have proven that time and time again. And to ourselves, unfortunately nobody really takes notice. I don’t know.
CRYSTAL LANGHORNE: I think actually nobody even thought that George Mason would have made it to the Sweet 16 and we were expected to go further, so I think we’re a little bit different.
Q. Coach, in light of the dramatic rise of your program over the past four years, do you feel like your program is still maybe fighting for recognition a little bit, within your campus and also in the community, and I wonder what you guys, what kind of changes we have seen over the year, what you think could still change?
BRENDA FRESE: I think that we don’t spend a lot of time comparing and contrasting. The questions that have been out there in terms of, do you feel slighted, you know, the George Mason team and the attention they’re getting compared to your team. I’ll tell you, we don’t at all. We landed from Albuquerque and we were on the front page of the Washington Post, Washington Times, Baltimore Sun, USA Today, I mean that’s some pretty big stuff for this women’s basketball team and this program.
And the women’s basketball world, I think this team has really shown all season long that they have been fighting for the respect, just the fact that they have known how good they are and what they’re capable of doing. So we really focus on the positives and the recognition that this program is now receiving for all the hard work that this team has put in and it’s definitely well deserved.
Q. Can you kind of tell me just challenges Ivory Latta presents to your team and what you see from her as a player, what she brings to the court and the energy to her team?
BRENDA FRESE: I don’t know if we have enough time to talk about everything that Ivory does for her team. I mean first and foremost, what energy and emotion as a leader that she brings for her team is tremendous. Then you go into her basketball skills, the fact that she’s one of the quickest, fastest players from end to end. Always pushing tempo, can create for herself, for others. She’s extremely strong. Getting to the basket, being able to finish. And obviously it’s just, she’s just a tremendous player.
Q. Shay, and then Coach, what has Crystal meant to your team and what does she do for you that makes your team successful?
SHAY DORON: Crystal obviously is our No. 1 option and everything goes through her and she spreads out game, especially for the guards and for the other post players, because she draws so much attention. And the great thing is that as a guard it’s so easy to pass her the ball because you know Crystal is going to pass it right back out when she’s double-teamed, which she usually is. And we just really trust Crystal and she’s just powerful and quick, and she’s just a mismatch hell for any post player in the country right now.
BRENDA FRESE: I think that the thing that makes Crystal so special is not only what she possesses as a basketball player, because everybody in this room knows what kind of talent she has, but it’s what kind of person she is day in and day out, just the way she takes care and handles her business, just how she is about her teammates. I’ll give you a small example, we were in Albuquerque and you all watch and witness in the Baylor game, I mean, she single handedly, her teammates were unselfish passing her the ball, she did a tremendous job against Sophia Young and we get to half-time and the buzz in the locker room is all about “Great job, Crystal. What a job. You know, keep it going, “and her response is, “Thanks, guys, for passing me the ball.” And that’s the kind of teammate she is; she’s so unselfish. She’s always about this team, she doesn’t have to score a point, and as long as we win and she can do the little things, she’s ultimately, she’s an ultimate team player.
Q. Brenda, was Shay kind of the one who kickstarted this whole thing for you guys or a big part of that, especially getting the players you got and then everything?
BRENDA FRESE: Absolutely. You think back to year one, Shay Doron and Kalika France, who is injured, Shay was the first player in our program to verbally commit and say yes to Maryland. And again, you have to remember, I mean she committed to Maryland given the fact that our season we were 10-18 that year. Her first year as a freshman, she comes in and leads this team to 18 wins. So the fact that she believed in our vision, the fact that we had very limited time to recruit her, I got the job in April, and we had less than what, five or six months to be able to recruit Shay and get her to understand and believe our vision. So I’ve always, I’ll always remember just how special of a commitment that was.
Q. Coaches like to talk about the first five minutes of the first half or the first half as being critical. In your mind what needs to happen the first five minutes of the first half and second half to be successful tomorrow night?
BRENDA FRESE: We need to set a tone obviously from the tip and we need to show that we came to rebound, that we’re going to box out, because North Carolina is so athletic, so strong, so aggressive, and we need to show that we can, you know, that we have come ready and we’re going to do battle and we’re ready to go.
Q. I just want to ask you what kind of statement it makes for the league to have three teams here to be able to start talking more about the ACC when you talk about perhaps the best conferences in college basketball?
BRENDA FRESE: Yeah, you know, obviously to be making history is something pretty special. The fact that it’s never been done before in a conference, to have three teams and I think all season long everyone had talked about Maryland and Duke and North Carolina as three of the top teams in the country, but you didn’t know how it was going to play out and what kind of success that the teams were going to have.
Now I think it really validates the three teams, the conference, just having to go head to head all season long against each other.
Q. Crystal, is there an ACC style?
CRYSTAL LANGHORNE: I think the three teams that are here, everybody plays a fast-pace game. Everybody likes to run. And I think that’s a trend a lot in the ACC, everybody is very fast paced in the league.
Q. For Marissa and Crystal, you guys started the season, at least in terms of the polls, like number 14. When did y’all know or have a sense that this could be something special?
CRYSTAL LANGHORNE: I think when we went down to the tournament in the Virgin Islands, and I think we played really well and we played a Final Four team, a team that was in the Final Four last year, Tennessee and we played a great game and from that point we realized that we are a Final Four team and we can make it to Boston.
MARISSA COLEMAN: I say the same thing. After that Tennessee game we fought hard the whole game, and in the locker room everybody was very disappointed because we now that game was ours, and we knew that when we played that game, and it was in November, that we had so much room for improvement and that we could get to the Final Four.
Q. Crystal, can you talk about your relationship on and off the court with Erlana Larkins and how you plan on defending her?
CRYSTAL LANGHORNE: Well, I’ve known Erlana since my senior year of high school. We were roommates at McDonald’s. She’s a great person. I loved being around her when I was around her and we spent a lot of time together. We’re just excited about the match-up, I don’t think I’ll be guarding her, so Laura Harper probably will, but we’re just going to really need to contain her, because she’s such a great player.
Q. Coach, I know this is not the first time this has happened, but it’s four women coaches of the four Final Four teams, and two of you sort of second generation, you and Pokey, what does that say now about the development of women and women in sports and women in coaching and all of those sorts of issues?
BRENDA FRESE: Well, I think that you’re starting to see, obviously, a change in the game, first and foremost in terms of parity, you’re starting to see a lot of different names in teams that have the ability and the chance to be able to get to a Final Four. We talked all season long, I mean, there were probably 10 to 12 teams out there this year that had a chance to be sitting in the position where we’re at today.
So never before in the history of our game have we had that kind of parity, and you’re finally starting to see a little bit of a change in the game in terms of coaches that are retiring that have really paved the path. And from my understanding, you know, I can reflect and feel how fortunate I am to be given the opportunity that I now have from all these great coaches like Marsha Sharp from Texas Tech, and Ceal Barry from Colorado, who have invested so much time and energy to make this game be what it is now at this national stage.
Q. Brenda, I wonder if you could talk about the team’s health or injury report. I guess Marissa succumbed to the dreaded virus the other day and how is everyone else doing?
BRENDA FRESE: Well, let’s see, of the 10 members that we have on our team, seven of the ten had been hit with the virus. So our two healthy ones, knock on wood, up here are Shay and Crystal, and they have not been hit. And we’re not planning on them to get hit until any time after Wednesday. I told them they could go ahead and have that virus hit. And Angel Ross are the only three. Aurelie is on her way out, she was inflicted with it, had to come out a day later, couldn’t fly out with the team, had to come out with the band and cheerleaders and Marissa unfortunately was hit two nights ago, didn’t practice yesterday. But you can, as you can see by the smile on her face, she had a little to eat for breakfast and I think she will be ready to go.
Q. How are you doing?
BRENDA FRESE: I’m doing great. Like I talked about, anyone who wants to go on the Albuquerque diet and lose a quick five pounds…
I am getting ready after the Final Four to write my book, “The Albuquerque Diet.” I think it will be a best seller. Great way to trim up before you get out on the Final Four stage.
Q. Coach, I would like to piggyback on something that Crystal said, she said all the three teams in the ACC run. LSU will also run, maybe a little more controlled, but they will run as well, is that maybe just, is that where women’s college basketball is going, a lot more running now and that type of athleticism?
BRENDA FRESE: In terms of the running style?
Q. Yeah, as far as the women’s game?
BRENDA FRESE: Oh, absolutely. It’s interesting as we gotten on the bus and with the 25-year history, they have given us, we watched a lot of the games with the old teams, watching that style of play. When you watch that film I wish I had time to go back in the history and watch a lot of those games to get even more knowledgeable. But absolutely you can see players are bigger, stronger, quicker, faster, from the weight room you look at the LSU-Duke match-up with 6’7″ Alison Bales and 6’6″ Sylvia Fowles, so you’re not only getting the size now, you’re getting the speed and the quickness that the game has evolved into.
Q. Shay, what are your recollections of meeting Coach for the first time and how is she different than the other coaches who recruited you?
SHAY DORON: Well, I think her youth definitely clicks with us more because it’s just like you said, there’s a wave of a new generation and you just kind of see eye to eye more with that.
But like I said, we just clicked in terms of winning personalities. Just by having regular conversations with her and hearing about her future plans for Maryland and all that just to me, I mean, it’s just, it was very believable and very realistic, and with the area and the whole east coast, it’s just a very recruitable school with the academics. So just like I said, just getting to know her as a person and then in the recruiting business, you have so many fake people and when you finally meet a real person, it’s pretty easy to pick them out and you got to just stick with that and get to know them a little better, and I definitely felt that with Coach B and her whole coaching staff.
Q. Brenda, as many years as you’ve been around the Final Four scene anything being inside that’s surprised you so far?
BRENDA FRESE: I tell you, from a personal end, I swear every Final Four that I’ve ever been to and I sit in the stands I always get teary eyed when I have sat there and thought about the day that I would have the opportunity to coach a team and be able to bring them here. And I’ll tell you, it’s something pretty special. This is what you grow up as a little kid dreaming about. And I know these players know this as well, I mean, to have the opportunity, the fact that this team brought us here is something that’s truly special and I really feel like I’m living out a dream. I still continue to pinch myself and appreciate the moment that so many people have always dreamed about and coached their whole lives and may not ever get here. Players who work just as hard as us that may not get the opportunity to be here. So I just want to appreciate the moment to be able to be a part of something pretty special.
Q. For any of the players that want to comment, just being a slightly less experienced team than North Carolina, I just want to know how, what basically having a win here in your pocket against them how that helps mentally going into a game like this?
MARISSA COLEMAN: With our youth, I just think we play fearless, we have nothing to lose when we go out there; we just go out there to have fun and our win against them at North Carolina, that game was a lot of confidence going into the rest of our season and we lost to them in the ACC tournament and we learned a lot from that game, and watching film and seeing that we lost the game with rebounding and with our defensive effort. So I’m looking forward to the game tomorrow night.
DEBBIE BYRNE: All right. With that we’re going to let them go. Thanks.
Sophomore Forward Jade Perry
On her last offensive performance against North Carolina?
“Some of the players on my team had some off nights on offense. I had to just carry my team on my back a little bit because I know that I can score; just to know that I can go and compete with the best of them, especially North Carolina. That really boosted my confidence.
Freshman Guard Kristi Toliver
On her relationship with North Carolina’s Heather Claytor and playing on the same AAU team?
It was just a lot of fun. We had a lot of chemistry from the start. College coaches were just attracted to us because we were so unselfish and that’s not the case on most AAU teams with everyone trying to play for scholarships.
On playing point guard for Coach Frese:
As demanding as she seems, that is just her way of showing she has high expectations for you. I know she has a lot of confidence in me it’s been a lot of fun, especially playing with characters like this over here. There is never a dull moment, it is always fun. That makes it more enjoyable.
Sophomore Guard Ashleigh Newman
On Maryland’s surprise visit to the TD Banknorth Garden while leaving town after playing Boston College.
I thought this is not the way to the hotel. Everybody is all confused. We got here and everybody realized that we are in the Garden. It was just a great experience. The ice floor was down but we got sit in the seats and just think, hey this could be us coming back to play in March or April. She wanted to put everything into perspective for us. If we keep fighting and working hard we could be there.
Sophomore Forward Laura Harper
About Crystal Langhorne not being named an All-American:
I don’t understand what the criteria for an All-American is but I know she has done everything for this team. I think she is the best center in America. She is a leader and she has put this team on her back countless times and I think that is what it takes to be an All-American.
On what they have to do against North Carolina:
I think we have to limit them to one shot and box out. We have to be in the game because they killed us on the offensive boards. That’s what they do. They live and die by rebounding and transition. We can break their press.I think the key is to stay calm and spread the floor. I think the point guard we have in Toliver and her confidence really helps feel like this game is perfecting the things we messed up earlier in the season
Junior Forward Charmaine Carr
On how she would feel if they don’t win the national championship:
As far as this season is concerned, personally I would consider it a disappointment but if you look at how far we have come, there is no way you can consider it a disappointment.