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BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2015Caroline CoyerEmily LeerHarry PerrettaROSEMONT, ILLINOIS DePaul – 58 COACH PERRETTA: I just thought if you watched the game, it was a great college basketball game. That's the way I saw it. We played probably as well as we could. We managed to chew the clock up, keep their points down. Our turners were under 15, which I thought we had to do to stay in the game, and it basically came down to the end, who could make enough plays to win the game, which they did and we didn't. I don't think there's anything else to say. Sometimes you play that day the best you could, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. I've been doing this a long time, and all you can ask the kids to do is play hard, which they did. They made some mistakes. Our younger players made a couple crucial mistakes, but that's part of the game. But I thought our upperclassmen really hung in there and played really well. Q. Emily, you take a look at this match‑up, and Coach Bruno brought it up that it's really your style. That's the way that this game really went. You still were able to get your style, although you didn't come out on top, that had to be a goal, but what did this really come down to in your eyes? EMILY LEER: I think that this game really came down to defense and just some crucial plays, like we talked about the turnovers. When we make a turnover, DePaul really scored off of it, and that really hurt us. We had a couple at the end of the game that they converted, and plays like that, then we're playing catch‑up when that happens. And catch‑up isn't necessarily the way that we're good at playing basketball, so I think that really hurt us in the end. CAROLINE COYER: I agree with her. It really just comes down to a few plays. We missed some shots, they missed some shots, too. Just a few crucial plays where they were able to capitalize and we weren't. Q. What did you think that Megan Podkowa did so well tonight? EMILY LEER: Everything. She hit the threes, hit the post‑up moves and drove to the basket. She took advantages when there was miscommunications, and I think that hurt us a lot. You know, I tried doing a good job guarding her, but she made some good reads. She's a good player. Q. Caroline, you look at the season as a whole, and with all the unfortunate things that happened to this team, you guys could have folded at one point, but what was it that this season came down to, to catch you guys from doing that and from getting to this point? CAROLINE COYER: You know, I think you're right, there's been a lot of unfortunate things, injuries and everything. I think that what it is is we all just really care for one another so much. We're great friends. We love our upperclassmen, our seniors. Every season is important for different reasons. That's when ‑‑ you're right, we could have folded, and it was frustrating at times, and at times we were all yelling and screaming at each other and we all hate each other, but that's kind of like what a family does. So we all, I think, just continue to work hard and push through and try to get better each and every game for each other. Q. You've been doing this a long time‑‑ COACH PERRETTA: Too long. Q. What is it about this team that really kept them from folding, from staying on it? COACH PERRETTA: This team actually became a really fun team to coach. It's a shame because I think that we actually are an NCAA team now, but we don't have enough wins, obviously, whatever, because we were injured so much early in the year, but it's just the way it goes. But they really did pull themselves together. We were 3‑7 at one point and we were dead in the water. They just kept plugging away, and obviously getting players back obviously helps, but I think when we got the players back, the kids who had played earlier in the year understood that they had to go back to being role players. If they didn't understand that, then you would have had team problems. Once they accepted the fact that, hey‑‑ I said it in a nice way, I'm really sorry but we're losing because you're playing a lot. I don't mean it derogatory, but that's what it is. If you know what you are, then you can become a better player, so those guys became role players, and they accepted their roles of being role players, and then we started to get good, because our team is based on role playing. We don't have a lot of individual kids who can break you down off the dribble, so if you can't accept your role on our team, then we can't be good. So I think that's what was the biggest thing. I told somebody one day, I said the most dangerous player in the world is a kid who thinks they're good and they're not. If you know you're not good and you can just play a role, then you help the team. But if you think you're good, then you've got problems. Q. What do you think about this conference? What's the next step for it to really gain some ground? COACH PERRETTA: Well, it reminds me of the Big East when we first started years ago. I'm talking about years ago when we were getting only two teams‑‑ I think we had 12 teams in the league and we were only getting two at the time. And what happened was it takes time. Over the years the other teams got better. One of our problems, and I said this the other day, is ‑‑ one of our problems is we have six teams that are decent. You don't want to have six teams that are decent. You want to have three teams that are really good and then everybody else gets beat. We have six teams that are decent, so therefore the four, five, and six teams appear to be not as strong. You follow? And then the top teams appear not to be as strong because the fours, fives and sixes beat them on occasion. If you look at the leagues that get more bids it's that the top teams never lose to the bottom teams. Parity is not a good thing. You don't want parity. Parity is everybody is 9‑9. You want four teams to be basically undefeated against the bottom teams and only beat each other. But that shows you that the league is pretty strong. We have six pretty good teams, I think. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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