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NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION MEDIA CONFERENCEApril 2, 2008Geno AuriemmaRICK NIXON: We're joined by Geno Auriemma. COACH AURIEMMA: I speak for everyone here in Connecticut that we're really looking forward to the weekend and it's something that every player and every coach works for their whole season. And we're thrilled to be a part of it. RICK NIXON: Questions. Q. First of all, you guys cut down the nets at the Regional yesterday. And I don't remember you doing that before, and had even asked Chris Dailey before the game and she said she wasn't sure because you don't normally do it. Did you see something special in these kids that you wanted to reward them for what they accomplished? COACH AURIEMMA: Well, I had thought about it the day of the game and that if we were fortunate enough to win, how we would react to that. And I knew full well that we did not do that in the past. And a lot of it had to do with maybe we had players returning or previous national championships that players had played in. But I thought for this particular group at this particular time and how much of a struggle it's been for this group to get there, and I know it's been a big focus of theirs, that I wanted them to experience last night's win for as long as possible and to enjoy it as much as possible. And I think it was important that we celebrate that event last night. So starting today, it's all over with, but I wanted last night to last as long as possible for that group. Q. You also mentioned last night that there was a turning point for Ketia Swanier and it was a practice before the Pittsburgh game, but you didn't mention then what it was. Was there something that she did in that practice? Was it a conversation that occurred beforehand or was it just the way she played at Pitt the next day? COACH AURIEMMA: No, I think that the practice itself, the way practice kind of evolved that day, her role in the practice, the situations that I put the team in and obstacles that were in the way during that particular practice. And there were times and there were instances during that practice where Ketia was kind of out there by herself. She was on her own. And she had to figure things out without a whole lot of help from a whole lot of people. I thought that day she really kind of turned the corner and from that point on there's been no looking back. And I think she feels that there isn't anything that comes up that she's not going to be able to handle. Q. Your team went up against Stanford and Candice Wiggins when she was a freshman. I was curious, how much do you think Candice has changed in the four years since then or three years or however long it's been? COACH AURIEMMA: We don't get a chance to see that that often out here. You see them play every once in a while. And the only frame of reference that I have is, again, the game when she was a freshman and the game that we played this past November, down in the Virgin Islands. And during that time obviously you can see the confidence level, Candice was always a confident player but in this particular instance she's even more confident. Much more in tune with the rest of her team. I think much more able to take over a game while at the same time keeping -- staying connected to the rest of the team and the rest of the offense. The same passion. The same intensity level that I've always seen her play with. You know, I always thought that she was a very emotional player and was able to inspire her teammates to play that way as well. And what I saw this past year leads me to believe that she's at a whole other level now. And she used to try to do some things sometimes all by herself and try to win the game all by herself all the time. And I think she's able to dominate games now within the context of what Tara is trying to get them to do. Q. How do you slow down a player who has had a couple of 40-point games here in the tournament? COACH AURIEMMA: How do you slow them down? I don't know, we might have to play a box and 1. But a different box and 1 than what Rutgers played against us. It may be four guys on Candice, one guy guarding the other four guys. Sometimes when great players get rolling like that, it's really, really hard to keep them from getting what they want. But I think Stanford is a lot like us in the sense that even if you did do that and even if you limited Candice to a normal Candice Wiggins' game, there's enough other really good players on Stanford's team that you're going to end up losing anyway. It's just a matter of how do you want to approach the game. Q. I was wondering if you could talk about Renee's defense. She seems to be a very underrated defensive player. She held to under -- I think she had seven points yesterday and five in the other game. I was just wondering if you could talk about what she's done in this tournament on the defensive side and what you expect to see from her Monday? COACH AURIEMMA: Renee is a underrated defender. And I think sometimes when you're winning by a lot, the entire team's defense gets overlooked. And I think we've got a lot of guys that are committed to playing good defense. And we have for the whole season. I think there's only a couple of teams that have gotten 70 against us the whole year. And I think Renee is a big part of when we have a really, really good player that we have to do a good job on. She's usually the one who gets the first nod. And that's difficult because she's also responsible for so much of our offense. When we had Kalana and we had Mel, we could spread that around but we don't have the ability to do that as much anymore. I thought the job she did on Kia Vaughn last night was fantastic. Any time somebody needs 23 shots to get 18 points. And she forced her into an awful amount of turnovers. I think she had eight for the game. I think to do that to a really, really good player is really difficult to do. And it was the same thing when she guarded Epiphanny Prince at our place for the Big East regular championship. She did that to Shavonte Zellous in Pittsburgh. So it's not the first time that Renee's done that. And, again, it's something that she looks forward to doing. And I think in the match-up coming up this weekend, whether it's Renee or anybody else, you know, we're going to have our hands full with some of Stanford's kids, and Candice in particular. But I don't know that anybody plays better on-the-ball be defense than Renee does. Q. I wonder if in Bridgeport you were talking about not going to the Final Four for a few years. You feel like you're always going to go back, but that little seed of doubt creates -- when you look at Stanford, made six out of eight years, they made the Final Four through '97, don't go back for 11 years. Were you surprised during that time they didn't go, and I guess what your thoughts are on Tara making it back now after the 11 years? COACH AURIEMMA: There was a point in time when Stanford was almost an automatic in getting to the Final Four. And there was also an automatic feeling that the best team on the West Coast, the best team in the West Regional, the best team west of the Mississippi is always going to be Stanford. So you knew that there wasn't anybody going to come out of that region other than them. I think as the tournament has expanded and it's gotten more competitive and a lot more good teams and it's being spread out all over the country and the seedings are -- not that they were great this year, but they're a lot better. The officiating has gotten better. So it's gotten harder and harder to get to the Final Four. And 11 years for a program like Stanford is a long time. And there's probably been times when Tara probably felt like this team can go to the Final Four. This team can compete for the national championship. And you get the wrong match-up. You get an injury here or there. You get a team that you're not comfortable with and next thing you know you're out. But it's just another sign of where the game is and what's happened throughout the country. But, you know, when you've got one of the best coaches in the game and certainly one of the best coaches ever to coach the game, you're always going to be in position to get there. And I think that's the key. Not so much getting there every year, but just every year being one of the teams that everybody talks about having a chance to go there. And I think if you put yourself in that situation long enough, enough times, you're going to get there. And I think they deserve it. Watching them play, somebody asked me last night, who do you think is going to win? The other night, who do you think is going to win that game? I think Stanford is going to win. I think Stanford is going to beat Maryland because I just see them play and I'm really impressed with what they do. And I'm not surprised that they're back. Q. What do you think your team has done, and Stanford as well, to overcome injuries to key players? And Tara mentioned about how far both teams have come since you played in November. So that game is kind of hard to gauge, what levels both teams are playing at now. COACH AURIEMMA: Right. That's funny. You're out there in the Bay Area where we're playing Stanford. And you asked me what have I done to try to overcome some of the things we've overcome. I've sent my order in to Rafanelli Wines in Sonoma, so a steady supply from Dave has kept me going, in the sense that the injuries we've had -- the team we had back in November doesn't even resemble the team that we have now. It started to show itself last night, how much we missed those two kids, Mel and Kalana, because all three of our perimeter players had to play 40 minutes last night. So it is a much different team than we had in November. But every one of our players that played, that's playing now, has gotten better. And I think that's the key to your team is do you get better? Do you stay the same? Because if you stay the same, you're going to get beat. Because everybody's getting better. And the team that I watch now when I watched the Maryland-Stanford game and when I watched them play in the NCAA tournament is not the same team. Kayla Pedersen is not the same player. And that makes them 100 times better, because now Jayne Appel has somebody that can take some of the pressure off her and is not going to be double- and triple-teamed all the time. The way Candice is playing, you know, when you've got those two big guys, you've got to defend. There's a lot more opportunities out on the perimeter. And I think the rest of their guys are more comfortable and I think more in synch with each other. I think when they played in November, they weren't quite sure what to do if Candice didn't take over the offense, if Jayne couldn't get rolling on the offensive end. So I think right now they're much more balanced, much better team. And, again, probably attribute that to they've all gotten better individually. And, again, I'm not surprised. Q. Is there a danger that this story line between you and Pat could be a cloud over the Final Four and is there a need to clear it up and get it out of the way? COACH AURIEMMA: I think the story line has about used up its life span, it's shelf life. It's unfortunate that it's gotten to this point. It's unfortunate that it's lasted this long. We've had to answer a lot of questions about how we recruit, what we did in recruiting, what we didn't do. I quite frankly am sick of it. Our university spent a lot of time and a lot of effort having to defend ourselves against a lot of accusations that turn out to be nothing, or the NCAA would have come down hard on us, which they didn't. So I just think it's an unfortunate situation that there's a lot of stories out there about a lot of great teams and a lot of great players and a lot of great scenarios that developed this year in the game of women's basketball. And if all people want to talk about is Pat this and Pat that and Pat said this and Pat said that, Geno this and Geno that, that's a shame. And I'm not going to be a part of it. And as far as I'm concerned, when I get on the plane and I go to Tampa, I could care less about Pat Summitt, Tennessee or LSU or anybody. I'm worried about Stanford and I'm worried about Connecticut. And that's it. Q. A little bit about Tara, you guys haven't crossed paths this year or in the last couple years, but in the last, say, ten years or so not a ton, but what are your impressions about her competitiveness, her motivation, the way she's coaching now? Because 11 years is a long time to go without a Final Four? COACH AURIEMMA: Yeah. Yeah. Well, some people go their life without going to the Final Four. And it's funny when you build a program like she has where the expectations are so high. Not being to the Final Four in 11 years, some people coach 31 years and never get there. And I think that's part of the mystique of Stanford and how good they've been for so long that it's like, wow, you're finally going back there. But the thing that I've noticed most I would say when 1995 when -- and Tara was coaching the Olympic team, today in '08, I see a completely different person. The time I've been around her and times I've spent with her, more recently, I think she's much more relaxed and a little bit looser to be around, and I think is enjoying it more I think probably than ever before. And that comes across. I think there's a point where you reach and you're so obsessed with winning and getting to the Final Four and winning national championships, that I think you do come to a point where later on you appreciate the other things that come with coaching and dealing with kids and you see the big picture and you get to enjoy yourself a little more. And I think that's the Tara VanDerveer that I see right now as opposed to the one I saw in 1995. Q. I think it's interesting -- I don't know if you do -- that I think maybe the four top individual players in the country this year, you know, you can make an argument all may be First-Team All-American, all end up with their teams in the Final Four. Is that a coincidence? COACH AURIEMMA: No, I never think it is. I never think it is. I think if you're not coaching one of the best players in the country, it's hard to get to the Final Four. It's not a coincidence that the last three years we've not been able to get to the Final Four. You think 11 years is long. You should try coaching in Connecticut and not go for three years. We didn't have a First-Team All-American in '05, '06 or -7. So it's no coincidence that in 2008 we do have one and we're going back there. So you can't just have one All-American and say, we're going to the Final Four, but it's pretty hard to get there without one. Q. If you wouldn't mind, even though you're not thinking about Tennessee, talk a little bit about Candace has made herself in more of a post, low post, in-the-paint player. Some of that she said came from playing international ball. Could you talk about the way she's adapted to that role. She still handles the ball some. She goes to the perimeter some. But she's now basically an in-the-paint player. Just talk a little bit about that. COACH AURIEMMA: Well, you know when I watch the games and I watch Candace Parker play, I think that's where it's hardest. That's where the hardest match-up is is when she's in the lane, when she's around the basket, because it's just very difficult to keep her from getting the shots she wants to get and because she can score in more than one way. Some post players, they have one move and you defend that move. With Candace, she's able to get a variety of shots so that she can keep you off balance around the basket. I think that if Candace Parker is going to stand 18 feet from the basket and just shoot jump shots, I think she will be doing a whole bunch of teams a favor because as many as she makes, you know, it's still not going to be as much damage to you as what she can do to you around the basket. Because if she's scoring outside, that's one thing. If she's scoring inside, not only is she scoring but she's fouling out a couple of your best players. So I just watch. And I think that last night was a perfect example, when she's in the game, Tennessee is one way, and Texas A&M doesn't look like they may have a chance to win and they can't stop her; when she's not in the game, not touching the ball as much, it's a little different Tennessee team. So I think however way she came about it, I think she's doing what's best for Tennessee's team to win the national championship. Q. What you said earlier implied that you're blaming Tennessee for you having to go through all of the effort to investigate recruiting violations. Is that an accurate appraisal of what you said? COACH AURIEMMA: That's where the allegations came from, to the Southeast Conference. And that's public knowledge. That's not anything -- I'm not breaking any new ground there. RICK NIXON: Thank you, Coach. End of FastScripts |
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