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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: OKLAHOMA CITYMarch 26, 2015Lisa BluderMelissa DixonBethany DoolittleSamantha LogicOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA LISA BLUDER: Well, like everybody, we're glad to be playing here this weekend. We know we're coming in as the underdog, but my team kind of likes that feel. We're kind of the last ones to the party here. The other three schools are used to being in this environment, and actually they've won a national championship except for me, so everybody should be for the Iowa Hawkeyes, low man on the totem pole here with the other coaches. So we'll take everybody's support from Oklahoma City. Q. Coach, any travel problems getting here because of the weather yesterday? LISA BLUDER: We had absolutely no travel problems. We landed about 2:30, we were in our hotel‑‑ we were at dinner actually when the storm hit, so we had tornado sirens going off and the roof started on fire of the restaurant, but the food was good, so it was okay. Q. Coach, in 2011 your program lost Kachine Alexander, a tenacious, do‑everything player. Sam stepped in the very next season. Talk about what she had meant to the program and what's that been like to have two players like that back to back? LISA BLUDER: Yeah, they're kind of similar players because they're both just tenacious players, great rebounders, do everything for you type of players. Sam Logic has been‑‑ ever since she stepped foot on our campus has been a starter for our basketball team, has been an integral part of our success the last four years. She is an unusual point guard because she's a do it all point guard. She can pass, she's the third best passer in America according to assists, she can defend anything on the floor. She's even had to defend a center at times. She is a strong, physical player. She can rebound, she can score. She's not your typical point guard. There's a statistic that I've quoted already before, but it bears merit again, that she's the only woman player ever in history, NCAA history, to score 1,400 points, have 800 rebounds, 800 assists and 200 steals. So in my mind, Sam Logic is just an all‑around basketball player, not just a point guard. Q. I know you're happy to be here, but do you have to guard with this group at all against being happy to be here, and do you have to talk to them at all about that this week, or is it even a concern for you? LISA BLUDER: No, we talked about that right away at the beginning of the season with the goal to be in the top 16. Too often you see teams set goals and when they reach the goals, it's like, it's over now. We did not want that to happen. We believe we can go farther, and we quickly reset our goals on Monday and set our sights on moving on, and I have not felt a letdown whatsoever with our players in their preparation for the week. Q. So successful at home this year, 18‑0. Is there anything that you brought with you from Carver, a good‑luck token, anything like that? LISA BLUDER: Well, I know a lot of players brought a piece of the net that we cut down from Carver. We did cut down the nets in Carver because we were celebrating our first Sweet 16 in a long time and going 18‑0 on our home court. We have a tradition where we always ‑‑ in our locker room, we have a sign that's a tiger hawk that every one of our players slaps on the way out of the locker room, and we have that sign in our locker room at home that's permanently affixed. And then we have a traveling one that we affix in every visiting locker room that we travel to, and basically we all give it a high five on the way out, and basically it locks us in. We're leaving everything else behind when we hit that tiger hawk and we're giving everything we have to the Iowa Hawkeyes right then. That's kind of a tradition we have. We talk a lot about ‑‑ really home is about the people, and we have everybody we need with us right here to make this a home‑court advantage. Q. Going back to Sam, what was the process over the past four seasons of kind of getting her to look for her points more, that balance between pass first and scoring? LISA BLUDER: Yeah, she did do that for‑‑ she was really more deferring to the older kids when she first came in, because we had some really good scorers at Iowa when she first arrived, so she was kind of an assist‑first mentality. And I think this year was the first year that she really began looking for her points as well as assists. I think she realized we needed to have that for us to be successful. We've always talked about we want five people in double figures. That's our goal. I think people start defending Melissa a little bit harder, trying to take away Bethany, and she`s kind of like, I've got to step up and score as well as pass the ball. So I think this year was the first year that I think she became more an aggressive mentality offensively in the scoring aspect. Q. Just wondering what are the things that impress you the most about Baylor? LISA BLUDER: Well, I think their transition offense is extremely good. I know they like to get out and push the ball. Their rebounding is very impressive on both ends of the floor. Obviously their point guard, she leads the country‑‑ we think we have a pretty good point guard and she's third in the country in assists, and with their point guard leading the country in assists, that's pretty amazing. Obviously Davis, an incredible player, Player of the Year in the Big 12, is only a sophomore, and she's so effective offensively, shooting 58 percent from the field. That's an incredible number. And so she's obviously something that we have to be weary of. Q. You were talking about Nina Davis. A little bit of an unorthodox player, have you figured her out, how she does it at that size? LISA BLUDER: That's pretty amazing what she's done at that size, undersized, playing inside, posting up a lot, but she can put the ball on the floor and attack, as well. She has a 15‑foot shot that's very nice, but most of her scoring coming off the free‑throw line and offensive rebounds[ and post area moves. And when you're 6'1" and kind of thin, that's pretty amazing. Have we figured it out? Probably not, but we've seen it, and our players have seen it on film. I don't think anybody in the Big 12 has figured it out yet, but we definitely respect her and know she's just an incredible athlete. Q. Was hoping to get a clarification on your comment of the roof catching on fire at dinner. What happened there? LISA BLUDER: Yeah, I think we were at Manny's‑‑ no, what was it? The Mantle. We were there having dinner last night, and all of a sudden, quite a few fire trucks pulled up in front, and my daughter got up to go to the restroom, and she said, Mom, I just saw a fireman run through with a ladder in his hand. That's when we figured out something was wrong. But they never got us out, and my steak was still medium rare, so it was all okay. Q. Talk a little bit about the weather that greeted you when you got here yesterday. SAMANTHA LOGIC: Well, right when we got here it was actually really nice, especially compared to Iowa. It was, I don't know, probably 70 outside, but then when we got to dinner, got some notifications to our phone about extreme weather warnings and some tornados. So that was kind of different. We don't really have that in Iowa too much. We weren`t too worried about it, though. I think we were more ready to eat more so. Q. Sam, could you describe what you look for as greatness in a basketball player? What attributes do you think make up a great basketball player? SAMANTHA LOGIC: Well, I think that the most important thing, I mean, to me is helping your teammates be better, making the team better. You know, a lot of people can work on their own game and a lot of people do, but when you make your team better, I think that's just so much more important than any individual thing that you can do. Q. Are any of you surprised to be here in the Sweet 16, or was this kind of the plan all along, what you expected all season? SAMANTHA LOGIC: Well, at the beginning of the season, we kind of set more short‑term goals first, and then kind of pre‑conference, conference goals, and then postseason goals. But I think from the beginning of this year, we felt like it was something that we should be at talent‑wise, experience‑wise, you know, just having a lot of good games to put ourselves in a good position seeding‑wise to hopefully play at home. And then we thought if we played at home, we'd have a pretty good chance to win there because we played so well there. Q. Melissa and Bethany, what do you know of Baylor, and how do you feel like you need to play against them tomorrow night? MELISSA DIXON: Yeah, we know Baylor is a really great team. We know the key for us is just going to be on the boards and really making sure we box out and get some offensive rebounds, so we know that's going to be a big thing for us, just to really work on for tomorrow's game, but we're just so excited to be here. We're excited to play them, and we're really looking forward to tomorrow. BETHANY DOOLITTLE: Yeah, like she said, I think that rebounding is one of the most important things for us in this game. They're obviously a really good rebounding team, and that's an area we've struggled at during the season. Just to focus on the boards a little bit more, boxing out their good rebounders, and stopping their transition offense because they're pretty good at that. I think that those are kind of the two keys that we're going to focus on. We're more than capable and I think we're just excited to get out there and show people what we can do at this level. Q. Sam, it looks like you got your tooth fixed. When was that done and so forth? SAMANTHA LOGIC: Well, I think Monday. Did we have off‑‑ I think it happened Sunday, so yeah, Monday morning. The University did a really good job just getting me in, got it glued back on, got some extra love on there to make sure it stays there, so that's what we're hoping for. Q. (No microphone) SAMANTHA LOGIC: Well, I like watching pass‑first point guards, so getting to play against one at that elite of a level, obviously leading the nation in assists, like you said, it's just fun. I think that you get your teammates more involved, like I said before, that's what I think makes a great player. Haven't watched them too much during the year, but obviously she's been a great passer, and so I always respect those kind of point guards just a little bit more, just because that's how I like to play and what I like to watch. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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