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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2016Katie MeierJessica ThomasGreensboro, North Carolina Notre Dame - 78, Miami - 67 KATIE MEIER: Yeah, I'm awful proud. I really, really am very deeply moved by the effort my team gave today, in adversity and role players having to play big minutes in a game like that. Kee Kee Harris, foul trouble, just completely handcuffed us in the first half, and I thought we did a fantastic job of overcoming it, staying focused. Next player stepped up for us, staff did a nice job of managing and trying to sneak someone in with two fouls so they didn't get their third. I thought that first half was just a very well-played game for us. And then I loved our effort, I loved taking the lead in the second half, too, I loved all that. And there's no way that I will ever say, well, we just lost our legs on those shots. You will never hear me say that. Obviously we probably blew this game. In the regular season when we lost twice to Florida State or something like that and didn't get the 4 seed, that's the truth and that's the lesson I want my team to understand is the difference between 4 and 5 is maybe a couple of those jumpers go down, you know? But we earned all of that -- what we got -- so there's no excuses there. I wish I wasn't coaching against such a great coach on the other end because, boy, can she run a play for a player to score when they need it, and it's unbelievable. And she's in the Hall of Fame for a reason. Any time that Notre Dame, we took the lead or they were on the ropes or whatever, they hit a big shot, and it was a different kid each time. That's why they're great. That's why whenever I can, I try to have conversations with Muffet McGraw. I ask advice. I really admire her so much. I try to sit next to her in the head coaches' meetings and kind of hear her philosophies and why she does what she does and what type of kids she recruits. She doesn't just go and just go to the rankings and take the top 10 in the rankings. She can if she wants to, but she gets kids like Madison Cable and Michaela Mabrey and Hannah Huffman that just kill you, and I have a ton of respect for the way they run their program. So if I was going to lose to anybody today and my team was going to battle against anybody, we have so much respect for Notre Dame. It makes us feel good. And obviously we were really thrilled with our improvement from the last time we faced them. And as a coach, that's -- your whole job is where were you in January, where were you in February, where are you in March, and this March Miami team is pretty damned good. Q. Do you feel like you're playing at a close level to where you could maybe get to the Final Four with this, and what do you still need to tweak a little bit over practice the next few days? KATIE MEIER: Yeah, we just -- I think we want to win the first weekend. We've got to go there first, and we haven't done that. So can this team do that? Yeah, we can do that for sure. And then I'll call you when we're in the Sweet 16. I'll let you know how I feel about that next weekend. Q. Can you just talk a little bit about do you think this tournament helped you in terms of seeding for the committee? KATIE MEIER: It better have. It better have. We answered all the doubts, I think, that people had. Oh, Miami is great, they beat who they're supposed to beat, but they didn't beat anybody ranked higher than them. So I think we answered all the doubts. Do we have electric, exciting players, too? Yeah. And can we be a giant killer, which we've always had that reputation. And I want everyone to know that we've gotten to tournaments just because we can beat anybody. And our style of play is so hard that sometimes it's just not even logical, and it's hard for a team that needs to have logical defense to defend some of our wild cards that we throw at you, and I love my wild cards. It makes it a real joy to coach. And Jessica Thomas over here can beat anybody with her motor, with the motor that she played with this weekend. It was unbelievable. Diesel fuel still? Yeah. Q. Can you talk about your Ms. March sitting to your left because she was just playing incredible this weekend. KATIE MEIER: Yeah, actually at halftime it was pretty clear that they were trying to deny Jessica the ball, and we had some looks for her off the ball, which really helped us yesterday. And then today she came back to me, and she said, I don't like our pace when I don't have the ball. So we just forced her to be the point guard again and had to make sure our rebounders knew to try to give her the ball because our tempo was so much better with her with the ball. That made it hard for her to get clean looks, but she cares about Miami and she felt like the Miami tempo wasn't good enough, so she moved herself back to the point. Q. For Syracuse and Louisville, how would you maybe say that they should script up a game plan to stop Notre Dame? KATIE MEIER: They'd better play their guts out. They'd better know personnel, all right. Knowing the personnel and the scout is just hugely, hugely important. Then you'll see their intention, so Notre Dame's intention, which they're very locked and loaded. They're very dialed in on what call they want for that particular player. You'd better scout your butt off because I thought there were times in that game we took away their intention because of the work my staff did and because of how quickly we turned this game around and communicated to our kids, that we took away their intention of the play. Now, then there's a loose ball and someone picks it up and chucks it in, but that makes them very, very good. Q. Jessica, what makes you Ms. March? JESSICA THOMAS: I just think my competitive spirit, my will to win, and just knowing how hard my teammates and I put in so much work. I can't see anything else but us being on top. I think that's what it is. When I'm out there, I just know how hard Erykah has put work in, I know how hard Mot has put work in. I can go down the list, and I just know -- I can't see it any other way than us being on top. Q. Everyone is talking about usually one team winning the national title. Does Notre Dame have a chance, too? KATIE MEIER: I think Notre Dame has a chance and the winner of this game has -- the way Louisville played against us on our home court, I had no answers as a coach, and I felt like I let my team down. I really couldn't solve their physicality, so I don't think they played as well yesterday, but oh, my goodness. And then Syracuse, you never know, because talk about wild cards. If your kids are going to blow up, Syracuse will embarrass you. This league is no joke. It is no joke. Believe me, we do everything we can. We've built this Miami program with some really great players but also having to really cover some weaknesses and really have to strategize. You can't match roster for roster when you're building a program and you walk in and you play six McDonald's All-Americans and five McDonald`s All-Americans and three national players. You know, it's every day in this conference. You'd better have some great strategy and your kids better pay attention to details to get to where you need to go. And Syracuse, whatever your strategy is, if they're foaming at the mouth, doesn't matter, they'll get you. It's been such a tough conference. It's been great. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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