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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2015Brittany BoydLindsay GottliebReshanda GraySEATTLE, WASHINGTON Cal – 68 THE MODERATOR: We welcome Cal, Coach Lindsay Gottlieb, Reshanda Gray and Brittany Boyd. Coach an opening statement? COACH GOTTLIEB: Just really excited to be playing for a Pac‑12 Tournament championship. It's been since what I call our freshman year, the year we all came in together. Most importantly, the growth of this team to be standing here at the end with such a great conference and have a chance to cut down nets is really special. I thought tonight was an incredibly tough battle. Credit Colorado. If you're a coaching staff that has their team playing the best basketball at the end, especially when they've gone through rough patches, it says a ton about the resilience of those players and coaches. They weren't backing down tonight. I love our team's mentality right now. These two, I think you know how I feel about them. I think they're the best guard‑post combination in the country. They just keep doing it over and over. Really proud of them. But also the supporting cast really stepped up. Our defense has been tremendous, and just going to try to get some rest tonight and try to take advantage of an incredible opportunity tomorrow against an obviously well‑coached and terrific Stanford team. Q. How much of what you saw from Colorado tonight did you expect you were going to see? BRITTANY BOYD: Everything that they came out with. They had their runs, and we were kind of expecting that. Just based off of nobody wants to go home, and everybody's going to play their best basketball at this point of the season. It was gritty. The thing about us is we have to overcome and try to get those 50‑50 balls and get on the floor and get banged up a little bit, if you want to win the game. Q. There was a point in the first half where you kind of smacked your hands and told your team to wake up. What were you kind of maybe trying to get out of them or what did you see from them? And then you kind of took over the game, it seemed like you kind of took over the game a little bit and had those key baskets. Were they ever woke up? BRITTANY BOYD: Yeah, definitely. At that point in the game I think our defense was being too lazy, not wanting those 50‑50 balls. Our defense leads to our offense, and that's why we weren't making early baskets in the beginning of the game. I think you saw as our defense picked up, started getting steals and started getting our hand on things, and stuff started falling for us. We started getting out in transition and making plays that we knew we were capable of. It was like, let's go. That was their little section of getting points and now it's our turn. We don't stop. We keep on going up from there. Q. Reshanda, what do you think it could mean for you guys? Or what does this opportunity mean for you guys to have the meeting with Stanford again here, the third one in Seattle for the Pac‑12 Championship? RESHANDA GRAY: This is going to be fun. We brought the Bay to Seattle. This is a really good team, and we split conference. So this should be really fun. Q. What would you say for your program? COACH GOTTLIEB: The main thing is that we're in a Pac‑12 Championship game in a conference that's as good as it's ever been. So that to me is more significant. And oh, yeah, it happens to be against Stanford, and I think a lot of people will want to talk about that. I think it's neat there have been so many great teams this year, and it hasn't been all Stanford and all Cal. So the fact that we've been able to make it to this point is special. There is nobody that has more respect for Tara than me. I think this is one of her best coaching jobs to completely revamp the offense and find a way to be a top team in the country without Ogwumike, who they had for so long. But we're just excited to be among the last two teams standing in a conference that's going to have several teams that I think are going to the NCAA Tournament. Q. Brittany, will you talk about playing against Amber Orrange? You guys obviously had four years of playing against each other. What do you think of her game? What do you think of her competitiveness and what that match‑up is for you? BRITTANY BOYD: I like playing against her. She's a very fun competitor and somebody to go up against. From freshman year till now I've seen her game grow, especially with the pull‑up jumper. She's knocking it down like it's a lay‑up. You know, so it's a battle every time we step on the floor. I think we both have a mutual respect for one another, but I really think she's a great player. Q. Coach, yesterday Mike Neighbors talked about how he preferred it if Brittany was a scorer and not a distributor. So she's been playing really well getting the team involved lately. Do you think that's what the team needs when she distributes that well, like seven assists, no turnovers, across the board like that? COACH GOTTLIEB: Yeah, there is not too much I can find fault in the stat line. She's been brilliant the whole tournament so far, and I think she's had a season that's up there with any guard in the country. I'll say that to any All‑American Committee, right? I think she's had that kind of year. But tonight when you're looking at 18, 10, and 7, four steals, playing 40 minutes with one turnover, that's pretty impressive. I think people try to take different things away from us. What Brittany has really learned is that decision making. She can control the game by passing the ball ten times in a row, and she might need to score six or seven baskets in a row. I think she has such a good feel that she's in a rhythm where if someone has a better shot than she does, she's going to give it up. When it's her time to score, she's going to score. People do a lot of different things to scheme around this two, but as a team we are in rhythm because we know we have five threats on the floor now, that is something that I think is unique about this Cal team, and that's what we're trying to take advantage of. Q. Brittany, you mentioned yesterday, if I understood correctly, that you wanted to use this tournament to show who this Cal team is. I'm guessing because some of the losses you had in the season weren't the greatest finish. Was this an example of you guys? BRITTANY BOYD: Yeah, this is our platform right here. This tournament is kind of a showcase of showing our talent, and what we are actually kind of made up. We still have some bumps. I don't think anybody's perfect, I think from where we started to where we are now, I think we've made a tremendous step, and I think everybody's invested. Everybody wants to win. Everybody is, "What do I have to do for this team to win?" So I think in March, that's a good‑‑ something good for your team to have. I'm enjoying it. Q. Lindsay, what do you think are the stakes tomorrow beyond playing for a title, which obviously you both will want to compete for a championship? Do you feel like you're both fairly secure as host seeds? What do you think? COACH GOTTLIEB: The first thing is not to sound cliché. To have a chance to win this championship tomorrow is the most important thing. Sometimes you're working about positioning and things like that. We are just focused on this team taking advantage of this opportunity. I've said it before. I think we were disappointed that we didn't win the regular season championship. It wasn't our time yet. We weren't ready yet. We didn't come out of the gates as the team we are now. And that's okay. Sometimes the growth is as significant as anything else. We want to win a Pac‑12 Championship. What's that mean nationally? I think our conference is really deep and really good. So, yeah, we'd love the opportunity to be one of the 16 teams hosting NCAA Tournament games. I think that's something that obviously these wins in the tournament gives us a boost with that, but that's beyond our control. So we're worried about trying to be the best team for 40 minutes tomorrow. Q. Speak a little bit about how your team's growth is with mental toughness. Teams have come back against you guys time and time again. But it seems lately when teams come back against you, you guys stay calm and push through. Talk about that, please. RESHANDA GRAY: The main thing I tell my team is don't panic. When you panic, bad things start happening. I tell my team to stay composed. We've got it. It's fine. It's not like we haven't been in this position before. So I think constantly implanting mentally in their heads that everything's going to be okay. We may not start off good, but it's all about how you finish. Q. Brittany, is your hair supposed to be blue? BRITTANY BOYD: Well, shout out to Gray Gray Salon, Reshanda dyed my hair. It was supposed to be like a gray and greenish/blueish color, but the story behind it is I promised Jefflo‑‑ when Mercedes Jefflo first dyed her hair, I told her I was going to dye my hair like hers. So she was like, "You still haven't dyed your hair.  You still haven't dyed your hair." So finally I just dyed it, and shout out to Gray Gray Salon. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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