	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 9, 2010

Jane Meyer

RICK NIXON: Good afternoon. I'm Rick Nixon with the NCAA. We thank everyone for joining us for today's pre-bracket teleconference with NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Committee Chair, Jane Meyer. Jane is a senior associate director of athletics at the University of Iowa. The ten-member Division I Women's Basketball Committee will begin meeting this Friday, March 12 in Indianapolis, to begin the selection, seeding and bracketing process for the 2010 Division I Women's Basketball Championship.
31 conferences will have an automatic qualification into the Championship, while 33 teams will be selected at-large. The 64-team bracket for the 2010 Championship will be announced at 7:00 p.m. eastern time this coming Monday, March 15th on ESPN.
Following the announcement of the bracket, we'll be having a post-bracket teleconference with Jane that will begin at 8:15 p.m. eastern time. Championship first and second round games will be played on Saturday, March 0th and 22nd, and on Sunday, Tuesday, March 21 and 23.
I'd like to turn it over to Jane Meyer for opening comments then we'll begin our question-and-answer session.
JANE MEYER: Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for being on the call today. First let me begin by saying that it's an honor for me to be the chair of the Division I Women's Basketball Committee, and to represent my nine dedicated colleagues who make up this committee.
All of us are committed to this championship and want to provide our student-athletes, coaches, institutions, fans and our friends in the media with the best possible experience from the first tip to the championship game in San Antonio on April 6th.
March is a great time to be involved in women's basketball. We just can't wait for the madness to begin. The committee continues its hard work. We have more games to watch, team data to evaluate, and many more discussions to take place.
As Rick mentioned, our committee will convene at Indianapolis on Friday the 12th of March, and we'll have the bracket announcement made on Monday, March 15th at 7:00 eastern time on ESPN.
The process of selecting, seeding, and bracketing the field of 64 is by far the most important thing we do. It is both a challenging and rewarding process. It takes time and team work, and the committee members are committed to the success of our work.
Our responsibility is to select the very best 33 teams for the at-large spots. There is much basketball to be played yet this week. Every committee member is zoned in, focused and ready to work diligently.
Please know that on today's call, I'll try to answer all of your questions. But to be fair the to the teams that are still playing, I really won't be able to answer questions about specific teams. I look forward to your questions, and I'll turn it back over to Rick.

Q. I have a question about an injury. If a team suffered an injury to a key player this week, then if they say they won their conference championship and got an automatic bid, would that injury affect their seed at all?
JANE MEYER: What will happen is we ask conference offices and institutions to provide injury information to the committee. Then the committee -- every committee member will take that information. It may or may not impact the seed. It will depend on who that player might be, how they impact a particular team.
But it is information that I think what's most important for you to know is it is information that is important. But to say it will impact a seed is dependent on how every committee member takes that information into their evaluation process regarding what else the team has done throughout the season to differentiate themselves.

Q. For hosting the two institutions that are going to be getting first and second round games, when the committee is deciding where to put teams -- I know the idea is to keep conference opponents away as much as possible. But is region of interest in terms of deciding who goes to what sites?
JANE MEYER: So you want to know how we put people at different sites?

Q. Right. I guess what I'm curious is to what extent the idea a regional interest would be taken into account when deciding where to put a team for a first or second round game?
JANE MEYER: What happens is that we will seed all 64 teams, obviously 1 to 64. Then we go through, and when we are putting them in the bracket, we place them to the closest regional geographic location. Then we enter them into the first and second rounds as well.
So if there is a host team, and they are part of the bracketing -- one of the 1 through 64 -- we put them to the closest regional round first, and then enter the first and second rounds as well. Then, it's always done in seed order.
But we start with the closest regional geographic location first. Then with the first and second rounds. So to try and predict who goes where is not an easy thing to do.

Q. I was wondering if the committee has a priority list of things that they're using to make their decisions in terms of say road records, top 50 record. Is there a pecking order for or a weighted order to what you'll find value to when you're looking at your at-larges?
JANE MEYER: We're going to look at the entire body of work. We have a lot of information at our finger tips including the factors that you have listed. But those are just one of many factors or two or three factors that you have talked about that the committee will look at.
The other value that is good of having a ten member committee is that everyone takes the information and processes it very differently. So there is no priority order, per se, as you are asking because every committee member processes information differently. But we all have access to the same information on a team's team sheet that tells us about road wins, home wins, neutral games, whether those teams are 1 through 25 in the RPI, 26 to 50.
So, again, it's not one of those that it's a priority or a matter of how the committee member processes that. And then the voting would take place to determine whether a team is in or not in regards to those 33 at-large teams.

Q. Has there been any shift or change in your criteria in the last year or so in terms of what you're going to use to evaluate?
JANE MEYER: The information we have at our finger tips is the same. The change we made two years ago was to look at the last 12 games versus of the last ten games, but that was the same as it was last year. So the information at our finger tips has remained the same.

Q. I know you can't talk specifically, but it's kind of an awkward thing with Iowa. They've put themselves probably smack dab on the bubble right now. Do you physically leave the room when they talk about Iowa?
JANE MEYER: I am required to leave the room. I will not be part of any discussions regarding the University of Iowa and that is with regards to when it is being discussed with any team on our committee. If their institution that's being discussed, that person or that conference must leave the room, and that happens during the selection of teams and during the seeding of the teams process.

Q. I was just curious. I know you can't talk about specific teams and you may not be able to answer any question about the conference. But does the committee go in with a conceived idea of how many teams with a particular conference they would like to take at-large?
JANE MEYER: Absolutely not. We consider 332 independent institutions, and we evaluate each one independently and try to figure out who is going to differentiate themselves with regards to whether they are one of the 33 at-large teams. So conference affiliation is not one of those factors that is considered during the process.

Q. I was wondering if you had any reaction to UCONN's record setting win last night, that streak and their accomplishment?
JANE MEYER: I think we should celebrate it. I think what UCONN has done and what they've demonstrated, that excellence over the last couple of seasons should be celebrated for women's basketball. If you think about it, our game wouldn't be where it is today without some of the great programs that have been a part of women's basketball. I think as we continue to move the game of women's basketball forward, we'll need great programs, great players and great coaches to continue growing our game of women's basketball. It's a good story that we should celebrate.

Q. Does it help or does it hurt interests in a tournament to have a team this dominant that everybody is basically anointing already as a national champion? I know you don't look at it like that, but a lot of people feel they're pretty much invincible. Is that a benefit or hindrance?
JANE MEYER: I would go back to my previous response. I think it is something that is important for the game of women's basketball. UCONN is the team that is dominating right now. We've had other great programs over the history of women's basketball has dominated as well. Going back to Immaculata as just one of many great stories throughout the history of women's basketball that have been associated. And set some wonderful records.
So I really believe it's a positive for our game, and it's a story that we should tell, and it's a story that we should celebrate. I would hope that other programs would aspire to be that dominant in the game of women's basketball.

Q. What has this process been like for you being on the committee and now chairing it? Has it been exasperating, rewarding? How would you put it into words?
JANE MEYER: Being a member of the Division I Women's Basketball is a great honor. It's an honor for the University of Iowa, and also for me personally. It's a great experience to have of working with nine other individuals who have the same passion for the game of women's basketball and who want to help grow this game of women's basketball.
The team work that we see in the room is no different than the team work of many of the teams that are seeing throughout the country of how we work hard. We have struggles, we have great conversations, we disagree, and yet we all come to consensus at the end of the process. To me that would be valuable in any area of work.
But it is reflective of the teams that we see on the court every day when you have that opportunity to watch, you know, the game of women's basketball, because that's what we're representing. So for me, I love that sense of team work and everyone going towards that common goal.

Q. What do you think is the most gut-wrenching part for the committee? Is it choosing the number of 63, 64 teams who get excluded or deciding on the seeding of the 1 to 64?
JANE MEYER: I think the challenges for the committee are knowing that you're going to impact student-athletes' lives and coaches' lives. And so what we're trying to do is we've been asked, and our charge is to pick those 33 at-large teams. And we recognize that we're not going to please everyone. So that's why we have these wonderful discussions in the room.
And it's not a machine picking those teams. It's a matter that the committee is there to do their work of selecting, seeding, ask bracketing those teams to the best of their abilities.

Q. A player like Andrea Riley for Oklahoma State is going to be out for one game and one game only, does that affect the team seed or not?
JANE MEYER: We will evaluate if Oklahoma State is one of the 33 at-large teams, we will obviously select them, seed them, and bracket them based on their body of work.

Q. So Riley's one game will not affect it then?
JANE MEYER: We'll look at their entire resume there, Dan, and say what have they done? Where do they deserve to be? If they're one of the 33 selected, then we'll seed them and bracket them based on their body of work. Their entire body of work.

Q. Wonder how RPI plays into this? And specifically playing teams if you play a hard schedule and have a few more losses than another team that doesn't, if you can look away from the losses?
JANE MEYER: Well, RPI is one of the factors, but it's only one of them that the committee will look at. What's important is that as part of our team sheets, which is part of the information that we have access to, RPI is there. But we know whether a team has played a lot of 1 through 25 teams or a lot of teams from 1 through 50.
So RPI is a factor. It is one of them. But you still have to ensure that someone is one of the best 33 at-large teams and what are they doing to differentiate themselves from everybody else who is in that pool of institutions? So RPI is used, but it's only one of those factors.

Q. Do you see enough of -- again, you look at Connecticut's RPI is very high and Tennessee and Oklahoma. But do you see enough of what would be considered the big schools playing each other during the regular season?
JANE MEYER: I need to clarify what you're asking me there.

Q. Basically, would you like to see say Ohio State play more teams out of the midwest, play some Stanfords or North Carolina play Texas every year or something like that?
JANE MEYER: I think that would be really hard for me to comment on because every institution sets up their schedule based on what they think their needs are.
So for me to say I would like to see so and so play each other is really irrelevant, because when we look at those team sheets, we're saying, what have you done? You know, if you're not your conference tournament winner, what are you doing to differentiate yourself to say, hey, we're one of those best 33 at-large teams.
And so it really is important on how a team schedules and what do they do once they have their schedule? Are they winning, losing? What are they do being?

Q. I'm curious. The opening question was about injuries and whether that's a consideration when it comes to seeding. I'm curious about when it comes to suspension. Talking specifically about Andrea Riley of Oklahoma State University. She has to sit out of the first game of the NCAA Tournament. Knowing she'll be back game 2, if, in fact, the Cowgirls advance, does that then mean that is a complete non-factor in their seeding?
JANE MEYER: If Oklahoma State is selected as one of the 33 at-large, they might become the automatic qualifier, who knows with the Big 12 Tournament still yet to be played.
So if they are selected, they will be seeded based on their body of work. So we'll review their resume for the entire season, and if they're one of the 33 best at-large teams then they'll be seeded and bracketed accordingly.

Q. So are you suggesting it is different for an injury for a star player that may, in fact, if they're going to be on gone for the rest of the season that may affect seeding. But with this instance probably not?
JANE MEYER: Well, I think you have to treat them as two very different scenarios. You are still going to look -- in an injury case, you will still look at that team's body of work. You can use an example of a player who might have sat out the first part of the season with an injury. What did, in that body of work and the information we're looking at, what did they do prior to the injury? What happened when they had that student-athlete back from the injury.
So it's very dependent on what we're still seeing on that team sheet with regards to the information. It's important to point out that the committee does some very good due diligence of trying to and tracking the information of when a player might be out due to an injury. Is it a career-ending injury?
Because you try to look at how the team performed in that case or in those games when they may or may not have had a particular player. So, again, it's the team's body of work in the injury case and in the evaluation of an Andrea Riley. Again, we're looking at the body of work to determine whether they are selected and seeded accordingly.

Q. Knowing that this thing happened two years ago and it separated itself with a year with the Cowgirls not going to the NCAA Tournament a year ago, does it in fact seem to have an oddity to it, that this is a suspension that could come two years later assuming they're selected?
JANE MEYER: To be quite honest, the NCAA Committee has an obligation to act on that type of behavior. So whether it happened two years ago or last year we have that obligation to act. So we have no tolerance for that type of behavior. Sportsmanship is an important part of the game of women's basketball.
And if a student-athlete acts in an unsporting manner, the committee feels very strongly, and we have that obligation to discipline that student-athlete.

Q. Let me ask this, how does it differ from a standpoint of a NCAA Tournament game versus the regular season? Because obviously this happened in postseason with Andrea Riley's incident, other incidents earlier, not long ago in the regular season. How does that not get interpreted into post-season along the way? How are they differentiated?
JANE MEYER: It's who has jurisdiction. During the NCAA Championship, the Division I Women's Basketball Committee has jurisdiction. During the regular season that is a conference and an institutional jurisdiction area. So they have the responsibility to act on those, where the NCAA does not have the jurisdiction over the regular season games.

Q. This is something that you're close to as both committee chairman and working at Iowa. The Big Ten going from 18 games to 16 games next season. One of the reasons cited, the big reason cited it seems like, is they feel it will help them in the NCAA process by playing more out-conference games. Having ties with Iowa and seeing the committee in action, do you think is that the case? Will having these two extra non-conference games versus conference games, should that help the Big Ten as far as helping people evaluate them?
JANE MEYER: I think it comes down to because every conference has a different way of scheduling, and so during the selection process I think it's really important that we -- well, it's what we do. We treat every institution independently. So we are going to take that team sheet and look at it and say okay, who did they play? Did they win or lose? Are they a 1 to 25 or 26 to 50, with an RPI?
So it all comes down to what are they doing to differentiate themselves to say, hey, we're one of the best 33 teams. So scheduling is an important part of how a teams put together their resume, but, again, it's not just who you play, it's what do you do? Do you win? Do you lose?
So it's what the committee is going to see when we go into that room on a team sheet to say what did they do? So it's not just who you play, it it's also did you win, did you lose, and what are you doing down the stretch as well.

Q. Playing the Big Ten and not playing each other, and playing the Big 12 instead for one game, then whoever else a team picks up for non-conference, will that help the committee then judge a Big Ten team and its merits versus a team from another conference?
JANE MEYER: That will again depend on who are they scheduling? Did they win or lose? Because are we're treating them as independent institutions, so for me to say it's going to help the Big Ten would be inappropriate, first of all. But also what do those teams -- how are they -- what are they doing to differentiate themselves from each other and all the rest of the Division I institutions?

Q. Without regard to team specific or conference specific, but it goes both ways in terms of having the bracket the first two years and understanding what you have to do does the Big 12 present an unusual challenge for the committee in terms of putting the whole thing together in the fact that there are so many of them that are looking like they're in the same general same neighborhood of how they play land? I mean, you look at the way they were in the poll, the way they were all bunched up together in that group. You try to keep them all apart as long as possible, depending on how that tournament comes this week, will that present maybe a more difficult challenge than you've had in the past trying to make it work?
JANE MEYER: I think what you're asking me is -- well, I'm going to answer the question I think you're asking. With regards to our principles of placing the teams in the bracket, we are required to separate teams until the regional finals. So as we put the bracket together, we'll be following our principles and ensuring whether it's the Big 12 or any other conference, to make sure we separate those conference teams until the regional final. Is that what you're asking me?

Q. Right. But you have a glut of them. It would be one thing if it was just three or four of them. But you could have as many as seven of them. You could have four or five of them right smack in the middle there, kind of, you know, mucking up the works a little bit. I think we're basically saying the same thing, but I'm looking at it. Looks like a bunch of them. When you have that initial move, they'll all be crowded together in the seat area, and you have to try to keep them apart.
JANE MEYER: Because our principles require us to separate conference teams, unless there is nine of them from one particular conference, until the regional final. So if that requires us to move a team up-and-down a seed line or across a seed line, that is allowable per our principles and procedures.

Q. I wrote a sentence saying how other teams may be impacting up-and-down by the nature of applying a bunch of teams from one conference, and in the end a bunch of them get into the tournament. Sort of like the collateral effect of that in the process of moving up ask down, other guys will have to be moved around because of what you have to do with them. Are you following me?
JANE MEYER: Well, the thing is when a team is moved up-and-down a seed line, it's because we violated a principle. So we'd be treating every team the same way. If teams are moved, we still have to ensure that they are not meeting up with one of their conference on opponents.
So to me it's a matter of we treat every team the same that we want to ensure that we are following the principles no matter who it is. Because that's important to ensure that the bracket is balanced and for the integrity of the bracket.

Q. This particular year is just an unusual year once you take away the shadow of Connecticut and Stanford from the equation. The numbers usually do a great job of getting you right to the finish. Do you think you'll have to do a lot of selection discussion? You know, doing the exercise at some point? You have to sit down and go at the end of the day who is doing what right now? Do you see a lot of points where you may have to go at a certain point behind the numbers or the numbers are going to be the same, and you'll have to take a close look at the different committees that have evaluated these teams on-site, members on site, and you may end up who gets the final say and who gets in and who gets on out?
JANE MEYER: I think it's important, Mel, to remember that the committee uses every bit of information at its finger tips. The numbers are one of those things.
We spent countless hours watching games. We spend lots of time you talking to the coaches. We have regional conference calls that that becomes the voice of the room in the coaches to say where are your regional rankings? Is so to say this is a unique year, I don't think it is.
I think it's a matter of the committee being extremely resourceful at using everything at their finger tips to make sure they select the very best 33 at-large teams and seeding and bracketing them according to our principles and procedures.

Q. How many games have you watched of basketball this year?
JANE MEYER: I try not to count it (laughing). I do know I counted a couple weeks ago, and I count a game if I watch a half of it. So I've probably watched over 150 games or so. But that's what every committee member is doing. So it's not unique to me.
Every committee member has made that commitment to watch a significant number of games to ensure that we have, again, all of that information that we need when we go into that room.

Q. Do you have a special area of the country that you watch, or are you watching from coast to coast?
JANE MEYER: I particularly am watching coast to coast. However, we do assign committee members to conferences. So that when we're in the room that we can go to a certain committee member and say, okay. That's your conference. Give us what you know. And then they are also responsible for watching those games.
But every committee member will watch coast to coast. But when a committee member is assigned it's about three conferences, sometimes four, there are experts in the room. So they'll have the information. They're the ones who are making contact with the conference offices, gathering all of those little bits of information to make sure that we have it at our fingertips.
Then the other part is as I said earlier with regards to the coaches having their voice in the room is also done by regional parts of the country.

Q. I wonder if you knew where all the site work has been completed for San Antonio or what is coming up now that the tournament started?
JANE MEYER: I know that the NCAA staff continues to be diligent and making contact, and making sure all of the arrangements are in place for San Antonio. That's an ongoing process, and that's about as detailed as I can get. Because once on site for the Final Four, it's the NCAA staff, the San Antonio local organizing committee, all the volunteers really take over and run that show.

Q. I don't know if you know much about San Antonio's hosting. Were you here in '02?
JANE MEYER: I can't remember that far back. I've been so San Antonio enough that it's a great city. I'm confident they'll be a great host as they have been in the past.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297