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NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FINAL FOUR

March 31, 2018

Muffet McGraw

Columbus, Ohio

THE MODERATOR: On the dais now for Notre Dame, head coach Muffet McGraw. We'll start taking your questions. First question right here.

Q. I'm hoping you can take me through around the moments finding out that Jessica Shepard was immediately eligible, what your recruiting was like. She really was so much a product of the state of Nebraska her entire life and through college. What that transition has been like behind the scenes.
MUFFET McGRAW: I think that initially she's good friends with Brianna Turner, and she knew Arike and Marina from USAA basketball. So she had a level of comfort and probably why she made the initial call to us. Then coming on campus, felt really comfortable with the girls.

The transition for her, I thought was seamless. She really, from the first day of practice, was the one that was encouraging the freshmen. She picked things up really quickly. She has a great basketball IQ, really understood the game. So that part was pretty seamless.

The hard part for us was we didn't want to put in a lot of new stuff and run things for her, not knowing if she was going to play or not. The day of our exhibition game, I was home. Got a call from Jill Bodensteiner, and she said Jess is eligible. I know I was screaming and jumping up and down and couldn't wait to get started and retool the offense to accommodate her.

But it was just a great day because really, without her, I mean, we have six scholarship players, and I don't know where we would have been.

Q. Coach, a lot of talk about how Mississippi State pulled off the upset and they were out until about 4:00 in the morning enjoying the win and such. I'm guessing you guys, you've done this before, business as usual after the game and got an early night's sleep and such?
MUFFET McGRAW: Yeah, it was a late night, just getting back to the hotel, getting something to eat. I think the problem was falling asleep. I think that was the problem. Everybody was trying. They slept in this morning, and that was good. Beth was up all night watching film, but overall I think everybody feels pretty good today.

Q. You've been in Mississippi State's position before where you're coming back after being the runner-up last year. I wonder what that does to a team's mindset, if that changes anything going into a championship game. And if I could ask a followup, how much of a difference does mindset make in a title game where you were two teams that are so well prepared and so talented.
MUFFET McGRAW: Nobody on my team has been in this position. I guess possibly Kat and Coco. It's all about the mindset. Really it's all about this is a game, two teams coming in playing for a National Championship. They were here last year. They know what it's like.

So for us, I think just a matter of continuing to do what we've been doing and not let the pressure of the moment get to us.

Q. UConn obviously left Jackie open last night. What do you do with her heading into this game with Mississippi State knowing that she can score 32 points?
MUFFET McGRAW: I don't think they're going to leave her open. I think it will be a little different defensively. I'm just so proud of her, for her. She is somebody that has always been almost like a secret weapon. She's had huge games. She was the MVP of our Gulf Coast Classic where we beat South Florida and South Carolina. She's played well in a lot of big games. And even when she doesn't have a lot of points, she seems to hit dagger shots when we really needed them over this past weekend in the Sweet 16.

But she's capable of taking over. I think she defers a little bit to Arike and Marina. But I think she proved last night she's as good as anybody.

Q. McGowan is such a dominant post. As you try to devise a way to defend her, how does her ability to pass out of the post complicate matters?
MUFFET McGRAW: She has 17 assists on the season. So we're hoping that she doesn't add too much to that total. But she is a force inside, tremendous player. Works the boards like nobody I've ever seen. I mean, she is a tremendous rebounder. Just a phenomenal player inside. She's so dominant, both ends of the floor. She's a tough matchup. We haven't faced anybody like that. I mean, A'ja Wilson was really mobile and did a lot more away from the basket, but just the sheer size.

We have a player in the league, I think, that's big, but not quite as wide and as dominating as she is. So, yeah, that's going to be a first for us. So tough matchup.

Q. Just to follow up on that, what do you do? How do you contain McCowan?
MUFFET McGRAW: I don't know that you can. You've got to try to get a body on her, but she's just so darn big that you can't outjump her. We've got to try to keep her off. She does such a great job with her body of getting great position. So I don't know. We have a couple of plans that we'll go to, and hopefully one of them will work.

Q. Following up on the Jackie Young question, obviously, great scorer in high school, but there's always an adjustment period. What steps or what things has she done in the last two years to become the scorer maybe that we saw last night? Or how has her game developed and evolved from those beginning days?
MUFFET McGRAW: I thought she came back and was the most improved player in the summer. I could tell immediately how much time she spent on her game, and she worked on driving the ball. She can go either way. She really was able to take people off the dribble and finish with contact, which is something not a lot of women can do. I was really pleased with that.

She didn't shoot as much as even her freshman year. So we tried to get her to look at the basket, but people were guarding her. So she was taking them off the dribble. Her game is kind of -- it's still evolving. I think there's a couple games where she made some big threes. I'd like to see her shoot more of them. She's just really comfortable doing either one. So hopefully, she'll take advantage again.

Q. Also a question about Jackie Young. I believe that I've read that you've compared her to some of the greatest players to come through your program and that she might even surpass some of those players like a Skylar Diggins. What have you seen in her development that has led you to believe that that will be the case?
MUFFET McGRAW: You know, I think she's most like Kayla McBride on her team, and she can play the one, three, four position, so she's got versatility. I think the thing she does that doesn't get talked about a lot is the way she rebounds. She can get inside offensively especially. She can go up against anyone and finish in the lane, but she's just a tough matchup because she moves really well without the ball. She's got probably the best vision on our team in terms of finding people for assists.

So I think that she has the ability to -- she has no real weaknesses in her game. She can defend, she can rebound, and she can score. She can pass. She can handle. So she can do all these things, I think, as well as anybody we've ever had.

Q. I also wanted to ask you a little bit about Jessica Shepard. Looked like she might have gotten a little banged up yesterday. How is she feeling? Obviously, she got through yesterday, but how is she feeling?
MUFFET McGRAW: I don't know that she'll practice today. I think she's probably just going to take it easy. Her and Kat will both be sitting on the sidelines. I'm not sure how much time we'll put in today, a little bit of a walk through maybe. Everybody is a little bit banged up. One more day and just got to give it your all.

Q. Coach, Victoria Vivians has really improved her shooting percentage, has become a more efficient player this year. I wonder if you could comment on how tough it is to guard her at 6'1", things she can do offensively. And then also what you've seen of her defensively because she's improved that aspect of her game too.
MUFFET McGRAW: She's just a great all around player. She's going to be a really tough matchup for us. When you have somebody with her size that can also put it on the floor and take it to the rim, she is shooting the ball very well. She can do pretty much whatever she wants offensively. She's just really hard to guard. Defensively, she's a great presence for them. Their whole team, great pressure defense. I think Vic does a great job just with their defense and getting up and getting on the ball.

She's an All-American for a really good reason. She is just a great player.

Q. Obviously, you don't stop McCowan with just one player, but I'm wondering if you've talked with Jessica a little bit about what you're going to need from her inside to kind of take charge and slow down McCowan. You mentioned last night that you wouldn't be here without Jessica, so, obviously, she's going to be important for you tomorrow. Have you had a conversation with her about what you're going to need?
MUFFET McGRAW: We have. It is literally a tall order. I think she's got -- Jess has the strength, I think, to help, but we're going to need to bring some help, and that's really hard to do, the way they shoot the ball. So they're going to spread you out, four out one end, and make it really tough for us to defend her. But Jess and Coco both are going to have that assignment.

Q. Muffet, you mentioned before just Vic Schaefer's team, Mississippi State, they're going to play a lot of man, apply a lot of pressure. How do you think your team matches up to that offensively?
MUFFET McGRAW: I think we've gotten better at it. I think that they're a great defensive team. We haven't seen that kind of pressure as often. I think Louisville is that kind of team defensively as well. So we have had a little experience facing that. We've got to rely on our -- kind of our bringing up by committee. You know, I don't think one person will have the job of trying to attack their pressure. So we'll just see if we can figure out who's going to have the best chance of getting the ball over half-court.

Q. Coach, remember being in South Bend in January when you played Tennessee and you were down, I think it was 20 at the half, whatever the number was, and came back with an unbelievable win. Do you think that started the belief in yourselves? I think the Louisville game was the week before that didn't go that way. That this team thought, okay, maybe we do have something here, we can get this going, and now you're sitting one win away from the championship?
MUFFET McGRAW: Absolutely. Tennessee was the turning point of our season. I think the biggest thing was we got a renewed commitment to defense. We played our zone and played it a little differently. We played it well.

So in the second half they could see defense can translate to offense, and it can translate to winning. That changed our mindset. I think we went into games knowing we could score, but now with the defense, we thought we could be a pretty good team.

Q. Coach, a long time ago, 2011, you guys haven't faced Mississippi State, but you did face a Vic Schaefer defense in a championship game back in 2011 with Texas A&M. What are the things that are just characteristic about defenses he coaches that make it tough?
MUFFET McGRAW: He's got just a great mind for defensive philosophy. He, obviously, is great at practice, getting his team to do exactly what he wants them to do. They are pressure all the time. They take a lot of pride in their defense. That's probably the thing that he instills in them is how much pride they take in their defense. I think they're known for it.

He is somebody that I have great respect for, and I know that he's done a great job at Mississippi State to bring that program to where it is now from where they were when he got there. Two years in a row in the Final Four is not easy, and he's really done a fabulous job.

Q. Muffet, just a little more about Jess. Two parts to this. One, the fact that she's such an effective passer for you, how significant is that on a team where you need a lot of people to do more than the usual, you know, with a short bench? But also, when you think about sort of where she can be given that this is her transfer year, and so she's sort of done this all on the fly. Do you see her shooting threes the way she did in Nebraska for you down the line? Where does her game go from here?
MUFFET McGRAW: Yeah, she's really just scratching the surface. We like her at the elbow in the Princeton offense because she is such a good passer, and that offense is kind of geared to have a center that can really pass. So she's doing a great job there.

She is going to start stepping out and shooting for jumpers, I think, next year. This year we really needed her around the basket. When she steps out, we don't have a lot of rebounding inside, and that offense is not really geared for that. So I think next year she'll work all summer. She does get in the gym and shoots a lot, but I would like to see her step out and do a little bit more.

With Brianna coming back next year, obviously, we'd have somebody on the inside.

Q. Coach, you guys have now beaten UConn four times in the national semifinals. In the previous three, you went on to a National Championship. The other two didn't. Can you talk about the difficulty of when you have that? I know both teams had overtime games last night. But when you have tough, emotional semifinal games, coming back from that, you've had that experience even if these kids haven't, and how do you implement that?
MUFFET McGRAW: It's really tough. 2011, we beat Tennessee in the regional, came in and beat Connecticut. Nobody had ever beaten them back to back. It was like we were done. We were spent. That was all the emotion that we had. We just never really recovered from it. And I think it was similar -- any time you beat Connecticut, because of the dominance of their program, it's just such an emotional win. It makes it really hard to kind of get back to work. You feel like that should have been the championship game. We should be going home right now.

So it is, it's a lot of emotion. It's a lot of adrenaline. It's a lot just, you know, on the mental part of your game. So it really is hard to come back and try gather yourself just with one day in between. Not a lot of time.

Q. Go Yankees. How did they do last night?
MUFFET McGRAW: I don't know. That first night that guy hit a couple of home runs.

Q. Good start by Stanton.
MUFFET McGRAW: Yeah.

Q. Congratulations. Good luck tomorrow. I asked some of your student-athletes about not feeling sorry for yourself with all the injuries. You talked about resilience and how that's a good word. What have you talked to them about, about not feeling sorry? Because that's so easy to do.
MUFFET McGRAW: We actually didn't really talk about it at all. We just constantly focus on what we have, what we can do, who's going to step up, how are the roles changing? What do you need to do now? We never even talked about where we could be or what we should be thinking. We just kept focusing them on the future.

Q. Coach, you've had teams where I think you've denied odds to get here. You've had years where you expected to get here. Where you sort of knock on the door a lot, is that -- how emotionally difficult is that for a coach? Because like you said, in some years you've done everything except get the National Championship. Or have you just sort of grinded through that even though there's disappointments?
MUFFET McGRAW: You know, I think I define success as achieving your potential. So if we get to a year where we get to the Final Four and maybe that's the potential of the team. We've had a couple of those years where we got to the final that I really felt like that was one that got away. There was probably two of those. So I think -- you know, for this group, this is their first time. I try to look at it from their point of view, of first time here. Let's see what happens.

Q. A lot is made of the injuries, but I haven't seen anything about the status of the young ladies who are not playing. You touched on Brianna, about her coming back. Can you just let us know where they are in their respective paths back. I haven't seen everybody. I imagine they're here with you.
MUFFET McGRAW: Well, Mikayla Vaughn is way ahead of schedule. She's doing really well. Mychal Johnson, way ahead of schedule. Mychal will be graduating, though, she will not be coming back. Lili Thompson exhausted her eligibility, so she won't be coming back. So we have two coming back and two graduating.

Q. I don't want to assume, but if I could just leave it as a general question, for teams that might play zone against a team with as many three-point shooters and then with, obviously, McCowan inside, what are the challenges that you guys have to do? Because I know you said after the Tennessee game, that was a very important game for you guys defensively to know that you could guard. I'm assuming that will present a pretty big challenge for you guys tomorrow.
MUFFET McGRAW: Yeah, I didn't think we'd be able to play as much zone as we did last night. You look at Connecticut. They're a great three-point shooting team that can all shoot. We thought, let's give it a try. See what happens. See how long we stay in it. And we ended up staying in it a good part of the game.

We're a team that we can't get into foul trouble. We've got to play a couple of possessions of it. We'll see what happens. But it is a tough matchup with their three-point shooters.

Q. Muffet, you've been to a lot of Final Fours as coaching in them and just going to them. It seems that Columbus has done a really nice job so far. It was really electric, sold out a month in advance. Just what have you noticed from this city's first Final Four and what it's brought so far.
MUFFET McGRAW: This has been the best that we've seen in a long time. I think from the -- just from the people in the city, the organizing committee, the local organizing committee, what they've done. Everything's been first class.

The salute dinner was the best we've ever been to in all the years we've been here. I think everybody's gotten behind it. The crowd was phenomenal. Hopefully, they'll all come back for Sunday night's game.

But two great basketball games with a lot of excitement. I couldn't be more pleased with the way everything is here, from the facilities, hotels, and everything.

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