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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: DALLAS

March 25, 2016

Sue Semrau

Dallas, Texas

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Coach Sue Semrau. Coach, your thoughts about or your opening statement?

SUE SEMRAU: Absolutely thrilled to be here in Dallas, even arriving and walking into the hotel. This city already has embraced this tournament. It makes me extremely excited to have the Final Four here next year. Just the little touches all the way through really mean a lot and certainly that shows a lot of effort on the part of the organizing committee and very excited about that.

What a great quad we have here too as well. Four really strong teams, you know, you look at all four teams are very different but very exciting. Our match-up with Baylor will be, I think, a relatively fast-paced game. You look at both teams and the way that both teams score the ball should be exciting for the fans.

So I'm familiar with a lot of the players on Baylor's team. Worked really hard to see if I could get a few of them at Florida State and certainly excited to see them. Very happy about the success that they've had.

Q. Sue, obviously the 2013 game is the only one in the history between Baylor and Florida State and there are a lot of differences, clearly. Talk about where you have seen your program come and where Baylor's has come from.
SUE SEMRAU: One of the things we talked about since then is becoming a top-10 program, and we used to say we needed to be a program that could compete in the ACC. When I got to Florida State 19 years ago it was tough. We had just moved from the Metro to the ACC and there were some challenges there, had a lot of athletes at that time that made a pretty strong, courageous decision to come to Florida State and help us change things.

We continued to build and to grow and now with the commitment that we've had from our university and athletic department, now things have changed. We've got an arena that I think can rival any arena that we play in now. It's a different feel. We've got our own training facility. Recruiting has been a little bit easier on that front.

But to be a top-10 program you have to be able to go to back-to-back to Sweet 16s, so this is a big step for us in our growth and we hope to continue. I think Baylor, you know, Kim has done an amazing job start to finish. They have great resources at Baylor and having been there and played in that tournament there, they do a nice job. They've got great facilities. They have such great support. She's done a great job with that program.

Q. You look at the first and second rounds and especially the game against A&M. Is this team playing its best basketball right now? If not, what do you need to improve on against Baylor?
SUE SEMRAU: Yeah, you know, I think we have played our best basketball to date. Part of that has just been the balance that we've been able to find both scoring, rebounding the basketball, a much more concerted effort toward our defense and how we help each other.

But there are certainly things we can improve on and will continue to work on that. We have worked on that the last couple of days in Tallahassee.

Q. A lot of people know about how much size Baylor has but a lot of teams will try and crash the paint, take the size away. But what that's done is opened up shooting for them and they've proven to be 3-point shooters. What do you have to do to combat both those things?
SUE SEMRAU: We see that in the ACC as well. It's something when they have -- a team has such great balance you can't take one thing away.

I think when you look at the size, we feel like we've got some size to counter that. Obviously their 3-point shooting is excellent. Alexis played in our league and I coached her on the USA World Championship game and she is a great player, but that's not where it stops. Obviously Niya the way she is able to pass the ball is phenomenal; and Prince, I have been watching her since she was about 12. So they have a lot of great players and a lot of great balance.

Q. You ended the ACC Tournament seemingly without much momentum and you've come in this week with a lot. Do you believe what happened last time-out can carry over especially with a week, two weeks between games?
SUE SEMRAU: Fortunately we don't have two weeks in between games or it would not be a very good basketball game. I think it's really not about the momentum as much as it's about, you know, how you prepare. Everybody talks about how hard it is to play a team three times and we found that to be very true when we played Miami in the tournament.

Q. You mentioned Alexis a moment ago, she is a girl that had to overcome two knee surgeries --
SUE SEMRAU: Two, seriously?

Q. Yeah, she had a microfracture on one of them --
SUE SEMRAU: I didn't know that.

Q. When you see her play what does that say about what she has had to go through and adjusting to a new program?
SUE SEMRAU: She is a special kid. I loved coaching her. I know her family and when you look at what her father has overcome, what a great example. And certainly it's not nearly what -- his is more than Alexis has had to go through and I just look at her and just the strong will and the fortitude that she has and I just wish her the best.

Q. Coach, back-to-back Sweet 16s, a lot of players returning from last year. How beneficial is those players' experience coming to this stage?
SUE SEMRAU: I think it's important. This is exciting, and all of the cool touches are great, but it's not overwhelming. It's not something that is, like, wow, here for the first time, or we haven't been here in a while. There are players that can talk to our young kids about it and keep them level-headed and I do think that is important in our growth and as we go out to compete on Saturday.

Q. Sue, a lot of Big 12 fans may remember Leticia Romero from her time in the conference. What has she given you coming in?
SUE SEMRAU: She is everything a coach could want except vocal, that's one of the things that Deb Patterson joked about when I talked to her about her. I guess when you have someone that speaks a different language as their first language they're not as vocal as you want them to be but she is just so willing to do whatever it takes.

If she has a flaw it's that she is too selfless. We need her to really be our floor leader and to step up. She balances us. She gives us a great consistency as we go out on to the court, helps people feel great, I think, as our leader.

Q. Obviously there is a big role to play. How much can Adut's versatility help you in that setting?
SUE SEMRAU: She can run and that's the thing with our post players, too. Then can run, and Baylor's post players run. That's why I think it could be really exciting. Adut is special because she can do so many different things and I think she will be a huge key.

Q. When you are breaking down film on Baylor what is it that keeps you up at night? Obviously they present a lot of problems, but are there one or two things?
SUE SEMRAU: The way they pass the ball! That sets them apart. There's a lot of people who can score. There's a lot of people who can defend. They don't have to do anything crazy, you know, they just -- they see it. They make a decision and they can nail it. They can pick you apart if you make mistakes and certainly that is something very special in the game of basketball, much less women's basketball.

Q. Sue, coming to a building like this is there anything special or different you need to do to get your players adjusted to the sidelines? Plus Baylor does have an advantage they played here in the Big 12 Tournament last year?
SUE SEMRAU: Good question, I haven't seen the arena yet, so I think I will have to get adjusted. But we play in an arena in Greensboro. That's a really nice arena as well and hopefully that same type experience will help us.

Q. When you schedule difficult games in the preseason do you do that with these types of games and atmospheres in mind especially going up to Connecticut in that setting?
SUE SEMRAU: No question. We have to have those settings, so is this isn't the first time you've seen it. Not only Connecticut and that was in the Mohican Sun Arena, so it was not on their home court. But going to Louisville, to nonconference, going to Notre Dame, Arizona State, those are so important as we play here tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

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