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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 5, 2013Katie MeierKATIE MEIER: Well, I think that we've shown a lot of toughness in the last couple weeks of the season. We were an ever‑evolving team, just a lot of parts to figure out, a lot of roles to sort of clean up and clarify. It's just been just a great group, very adaptable, and just really honestly trying to think the game of basketball and play very, very smart style of play. But it's coming down to, I think, defensively we're showing some real toughness and some real physicality and some real grit going into the tournament, which at this time of year is really crucial and important. I've enjoyed my three seniors as much as I've enjoyed any seniors I've ever coached. I think Morgan and Pepper and Stefanie are just really rallying the team, and they're our three captains, and they're without question the three key players on our team right now, and they're really playing off of each other very, very well and just accepting what they're good at, accepting their weaknesses and just really trying to showcase each other and put each other in situation to be successful on the basketball court. The team is really following their lead. So we've sort of settled in, and I like our chemistry right now. Q. When you just played Tech on Sunday, how much easier is it to tell everybody, here's the game plan, remember what we did on Sunday, just do that again kind of thing? Is it a plus to have that? KATIE MEIER: Well, I don't know. I'm certainly going to turn it into a plus because that's just my mentality. I think Virginia Tech's staff has got a heck of an encyclopedia of film on us, and they can come at us in a different way, and I know that they will make their adjustments, so we have to be concerned about that. But I also think at this time of year to not have to spend‑‑ we have one practice today, we were off yesterday and then we're getting there. So we have one day of prep. It's nice to be able to sort of pay some more attention to your team than you normally are able to do in this particular situation because the scout is pretty fresh, the personnel scout is fresh in their minds, and just a couple of adjustments here and there. It's just great to be able to get some skill work in and to get your players‑‑ coaching your own players instead of always coaching the other team's strategy. We will take advantage of it. Q. What do you want to do so you don't have the same kind of first half as you did on Sunday? KATIE MEIER: Well, that's what I'm saying, it's an opportunity for us to coach our players and get them in a better place and getting them a little bit more comfortable with the looks that they're going to get based on what Virginia Tech does. But instead of them spending two hours hearing the names of the other team, they're going to hear their own names, and I think that's a real advantage for both staffs. Q. As far as the conference's image goes, is it more important to get as many teams as possible into the NCAA Tournament, or do you get more of a lift from getting one team to a Final Four? KATIE MEIER: Wow, that's a great question. Can I say both? I mean, I don't think that‑‑ we've got to be in a conference that's getting multiple, multiple bids so that the teams that do have a shot at the Final Four have been tested, and so I think it's a question that answers itself in the fact that you can't just‑‑ it's very rare that a team that rips through and isn't tested and isn't in close games or whatever ends up going to a Final Four. So I think we need to do that for each other. We need to show multiple defenses to each other. We need to expose the weaknesses of the teams throughout conference play. We need to get our best teams tested and challenged and even broken a little bit so that we can march ahead and have a representative in the Final Four. Q. Can you talk about the journey that your team has gone on considering where it was in preseason poll considerations and how you progressed and really what's been the biggest strength for your team's rise lately? KATIE MEIER: Yeah, thanks. I do think that I'm awful proud of‑‑ not like overachieving or whatever, I'm just proud of our body of work. I'm very proud of our‑‑ I thought we put together a really challenging non‑conference schedule considering there were about a bazillion questions about our team going into the season, including who was going to be your point guard, and that's a scary thing, you know you're a talented team but who really is going to be handling the ball for you in key moments, and that question hasn't really been answered until recently. We've had a lot of adversity to have to figure that question out, but that's‑‑ to have a team that you're really‑‑ I'm really confident right now with our team. I'm really confident with some of the decisions they make together on the course. But we weren't that team in November. The polls were correct. We weren't. One‑on‑one, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, the shot clock is running down, who's going to get the ball for Miami. I mean, I had two choices before, Williams or Johnson, who was I going to give it to. I didn't really have to think that hard. Those two could create a shot for themselves. We really don't have that type of player. But it's one of the most rewarding seasons I've ever had in the fact that the team gets‑‑ fights their way out of that. The team makes the decisions together on the court, the team makes the extra pass, and the team takes that last shot. So in some ways it makes it a little harder to prepare for us, but it has been a heck of a lot of work, a lot of self‑analysis of film, probably more than I've ever done with my staff and with the team in the room and being really honest and saying, okay, well, hey, if you can't hit that shot, you're not allowed to take it, let's be honest. So we've done a lot of that, and that is where I think the team is pretty raw, pretty honest and really authentic, and it's been a heck of a lot of work, it really has. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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