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NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FINAL FOUR

March 27, 2018

Muffet McGraw

Columbus, Ohio

RICK NIXON: Good afternoon and welcome to today's Women's Final Four head coach media teleconference. For the next several minutes, you'll have the opportunity to visit with the head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Muffet McGraw.

Notre Dame is making its eighth Women's Final Four appearance and seeking its second national championship.

I'll ask Coach McGraw to do a quick opening statement, then we'll take your questions.

MUFFET McGRAW: Thanks, Rick. It's so great to be back heading to the Final Four, especially with this team. It means so much to me to see them rewarded for their incredible year of handling adversity, just being relentless in pursuit of their goals.

RICK NIXON: Thank you so much. We'll take questions for Coach McGraw.

Q. What is your identity? Every program has an identity. What do people coming to these games expect to see in Columbus?
MUFFET McGRAW: Well, I would say that our identity has really been on offense. I would prefer it was not the case. I think we're a pretty up-tempo team and we've been scoring a lot of points.

Q. There's this idea of adapt or die. There's a perception that Notre Dame, UConn, peanut and butter jelly sandwich for decades. I would assume that is not accurate. As a program, you have to adapt. You are not the same team doing the same things you did 10 years ago?
MUFFET McGRAW: No, absolutely not. We are a much different team. I think we're much more of a balanced team, much more of a high-scoring team. I think we played a little differently than we did 10 years ago, playing a little bit faster.

We've always been pretty guard-oriented. I think offensively we have been running the same offense for about 10 years. I think we've perfected it a little bit more. I think we've added some things, put in some new wrinkles and adapted to each team, done different things to suit the players' strengths.

Q. Obviously you have a really good rivalry game coming up. From your perspective, how has this rivalry evolved from the days of the Big East where you only see them a couple times a year now compared to three or four times a year like you would?
MUFFET McGRAW: Yeah, that was definitely a lot of fun being in the Big East, playing them. I know two years in row a we played them four times. Just really created a great rivalry. We had some good games during that rivalry.

Lately we have not played as well, and they've definitely been the ones that have dominated the series. For us, I think it's always been an exciting game. I think we are a team that wants to compete, and we are going to go in and play the underdog role this time.

Q. Do your players like that underdog role? Is that something that helps them come out with a little bit more fire?
MUFFET McGRAW: I don't know because we haven't been in that role enough this year. I think most of the games that we've been in, with the exception of probably the ACC final, we were supposed to win. I don't think this team really cares if there's a target on their back or what they are.

But I think it's great for us to know there's no pressure on us, that this is a game where we're the underdog. We're going to finally be wearing our dark uniforms, so I think maybe that will make us feel a little different coming out.

Q. Of the 12 assistant coaches who are in the Final Four, all but one are women. I believe that's the second year in a row that's the case. With your experience in this sport, your involvement with the WBCA, is that reason to be encouraged? Is it too small a sample size to be meaningful as far as the opportunities that are available right now?
MUFFET McGRAW: I would love to see more female head coaches. I would also love to see a little more diversity, especially African American women as head coaches.

I do really appreciate the fact that Geno hires all women on his staff. I'm not sure if the others are all women, but I think it's so important that they do have all female staffs when it's a male head coach.

Q. With someone like Niele on your own staff, what conversations do you have with her about her future, what might be down the road for her?
MUFFET McGRAW: She's got big things in store. She's a rising star. I think she's going to be the next great coach coming up the ranks. Every year picks up a little bit more. She never stops learning. Every time a job opens, I'm pretty sure she's going to get a phone call. Hopefully they wait till after the season. I'm afraid I'm going to lose her every single year.

But she has such big things in store for her. I couldn't be happier with her development, and her contribution to our team. She's the one that does the big scouts, she's in charge of recruiting. Really she does it all. She definitely is going to be a head coach very soon.

Q. Can you talk about all the injuries, things y'all went through this year. Also, how much does this season mean to you to get back knowing you had all the adversity?
MUFFET McGRAW: Well, I think just to start out without having Brianna Turner, you lose an All-American. She changes the game when she's in the game because she can block shots, she's a defensive presence, she can do so many things. Initially we at least had time to prepare, What will we do without Bri? Then we got Jessica Shepard. That eased the pain of that a little bit.

When you lose players throughout the season, Mikayla Vaughn, Mychal Johnson go down before we even started, there's our best defensive guard gone. Then Mikayla, not having Bri, we had that athletic post that could block shots. She was coming along. We lose her.

Then to lose Lili Thompson first game of the ACC, she's playing point, starting in point, coming off the bench at point, giving Marina especially a chance to play her normal position. We had to retool yet again in the midst of a game to figure out could Jackie Young play some points. Marina is going to take over the job full-time, how is her improvement to be.

I think the key to our success right now has been Marina. I'm not even sure what the word is. She learns so much. You see her directing so much more now than she did before.

Q. How gratifying is this for you, with all the injuries you had, that your team had the resilience to get back to the Final Four?
MUFFET McGRAW: We keep shaking our heads. I think I'm kind of torn between crying and laughing. It means so much. There's so much emotion because of what we've been through. The resilience of this team, how they just are relentless in pursuit of their goal. They didn't ever quit or question whether or not we could do it.

Just to have that experience of getting to the Final Four, you need to have those experienced players to keep your program going. Now we have freshmen who have been to the Final Four. That's going to help us in the long run.

Q. If you had one word to define your team, what would it be?
MUFFET McGRAW: I would say 'resilience'.

Q. When you took over, you had a blank canvas. I remember the John Wooden days. He had the pyramid of success. When you took over, what are some of the building blocks that you envisioned to make this what it is?
MUFFET McGRAW: Well, I've learned a lot, changed the blocks quite a bit over the years. I think when you start out, you just want to get good players. You don't really care about anything else. I got to get the best players I can get. I learned that lesson the hard way.

I would say that our building blocks now are about our culture. It's about having high-character kids who care about each other and care about winning more than themselves.

I think it's an unselfish attitude that this team has. They're a team of workers. They love being in the gym. They love being together. I think that kind of team-first attitude and the chemistry of our team has definitely been the most successful team that we've had. Certainly over the last 10 years that's been our focus, is trying to find the right fit more than the talent.

Q. Was there ever a time this year with the injuries that you thought, Can we take any more? Was there a turning point where, This is going to be okay?
MUFFET McGRAW: It was definitely the former. I think when Lili Thompson went down, that really changed everything. Not having the point guard that could handle pressure, that could run the team, that had a great mind for the game, just really poised, had the experience. She had absolutely everything that we were lacking at the time. That was a blow. Happened on New Year's Eve.

Then I think almost the next week or so, Jackie Young got a broken nose. We didn't know if she would be able to play because we couldn't get a brace on it in time. She had to have it on. The training room put together a brace they found, a 20-year-old thing that some baseball player wore at one time. It was horrible, but she played through it.

That almost broke me, when I didn't know if Jackie was going to be able to play. I just kept thinking, How much more can we take?

About a month later, Kathryn gets elbowed in the eye. Her eye is shut. She can't see. She's out for that game, possibly the next one. When you only have seven, every little thing that happens in practice, you just worry.

But I think kind of the turning point was really the Tennessee game when we came back from whatever we were down, came back to win that game against a really good team.

Q. You've played UConn so many times, 47 times. In particular the game at the beginning of this season where you had the lead going into the fourth quarter. I know the personnel changed because you lost Thompson. Are there things you take specifically from that game along with all the experience you have against them going into this Final Four?
MUFFET McGRAW: I think that game really helped our confidence (audio interruption).

RICK NIXON: Muffet, if you could start over again, you dropped out a bit there.

MUFFET McGRAW: Well, it was a long answer.

I think we gained a lot of confidence from the game at Connecticut. I think both teams have made some changes (audio interruption) and both playing the same number of people, so...

Q. You mentioned the recruiting aspect, realizing things like character and the fit of a program sometimes can be bigger even than a certain athleticism you might be looking for. Geno talked about how you guys a lot of times may recruit the same players because they're looking for that, too, the player who wants to go to a program. Could you compare how often you have gone for the same players, and how important is that in what both of you have accomplished, to get that type of player?
MUFFET McGRAW: We both love the same kind of player. We compete against each other constantly (audio interruption). I think Geno has the same kind of approach. We have both passed on some really talented players. It's interesting when you see UConn is not recruiting them either. Maybe we were right in what we were thinking.

Q. I believe you're one of two programs to beat these UConn programs multiple times in a row. Are there any lessons you can take from one victory to lead into the next, to be able to beat this program multiple times in a row?
MUFFET McGRAW: Kayla McBride is someone that always played well in that game, had the most success. (Audio interruption). I think we might have won six of eight. I'm thinking of calling them back, see if they can (audio interruption).

RICK NIXON: Muffet, you dropped out.

MUFFET McGRAW: Did you get my answer?

RICK NIXON: Maybe the last portion again.

MUFFET McGRAW: To come back with Skylar, get the most success against UConn if we get them back to be on the bench, to come join this game.

Q. Are there any kind of things in all your experience against them that you know a team specifically needs to compete against them?
MUFFET McGRAW: I mean, they're just such a tough matchup because everybody can score. They can score from the perimeter. They can beat you on the block. I don't think there's any (audio interruption) we see coming in. We're going to have to play the best game of the year.

RICK NIXON: Thanks, Muffet. It's been a busy 24 hours for you. Appreciate you jumping on the call today. We look forward to having you in Columbus in the morning.

MUFFET McGRAW: Thanks.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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