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BIG EAST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 6, 2016

Kurt Godlevske

Chicago, Illinois

DePaul - 76, Butler - 49

KURT GODLEVSKE: Well, we knew coming into this match that we'd have to be able to control the tempo and have to be able to control January and Jenkins, and we knew it was going to be asking an awful lot of our girls.

I thought we played extremely hard and did a lot of very good things, but let's face it, they're a program that we have aspirations of being someday and have a vision of working towards that. And they are very, very good right now and deserve to be where they are ranked in the country. Coach Bruno does a wonderful job, and they play a very tenacious style, which is very difficult to handle.

Q. You have a very young team, and that's been a theme for you guys all season long, kind of a growth process. But you do have two seniors now who won't be with you next year. As you reflect on the season, can you talk about what those two, Blaire and Belle, have meant to your program in terms of mentoring the younger girls?
KURT GODLEVSKE: Well, Blaire for starters, like I just told her in the locker room, she's been here with me from day one when I first got the job. She has really known who I am and known what I'm about and knows what we do on a daily basis at Butler, knows how to be a true Butler student-athlete, so she has been a tremendous resource for our young ladies.

And then the second thing she has been wonderful at is teaching them what it takes to go beyond where we are today. She's constantly talking about it. That's just the type of person that she is. She was even talking about it in the locker room with the kids right now, that your expectations have to be a lot higher than what they are.

Belle, you could go on and on about Belle, as well. She's just a tremendous athlete, tremendous student-athlete, and her conversion from volleyball to basketball still, to this day, just completely amazes me of what she has accomplished from just hopping on a plane and a couple days later getting a double-double.

She's one that kind of quietly leads our girls. She's not a real vocal leader, but she just goes about and prepares herself and is someone the girls can always look to on how to go about things.

Q. The last time these two teams played, I think you folks were up 23-22 in the first quarter. Are you able to point to anything in particular why you weren't able to keep the game close tonight?
KURT GODLEVSKE: We didn't get stops would be the first thing, and then the second thing is we came in with a game plan, and we had a couple of mishap-turnovers there at the start where we got some isolations that we were looking for and had some turnovers. And you've got to make shots against them and then you've got to get stops because then the pressure starts coming. That's when things get sped up, and that's when your kids start playing out of character of what they're normally used to. If you don't get those first couple shots like we did the last time, then we knew that we had to get off to a good start.

Q. Did you notice any difference with DePaul being on their home floor at all, just the energy they bring?
KURT GODLEVSKE: Well, I think it's an advantage, yes. I think everybody would rather play at home. But that's part of what we have chosen to do with the Big East, and I think it's a great decision. I think the crowd, I think the atmosphere and the whole experience of the Big East Tournament was a real good thing for my girls, I can say. But yeah, I mean, if I would rather play them -- a choice between here or at Hinkle Field House, I'd choose Hinkle Field House any day.

Q. Going into games like this, how do you usually train to be with players like Podkowa to make sure you are the top team?
KURT GODLEVSKE: You know, I think it's a thing where you have to really do a lot of film study. You've got to do a lot of individual study, and you've got to really -- your kids have got to be disciplined, and she's a really disciplined kid. You saw that where she caught the ball at the top of the key, and she could have very well shot another three, but very smart basketball decision late in the third there where she moved the basketball. Just a tremendous amount of respect for that, just that whole mindset and that whole discipline part of her game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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