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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: LOUISVILLEMarch 21, 2019Kim Barnes AricoHallie ThomeNicole MungerNaz HillmonLouisville, Kentucky KIM BARNES ARICO: Thank you, and thanks to the University of Louisville. I know we haven't started playing yet, but the meeting was terrific this morning, and everything has been great so far. We are excited to be in the tournament for the second straight year. Our kids have had a real strong finish to the season. We're looking forward to the opportunity to get out there and play again against a really good Kansas State team. But really just thrilled to be dancing, to be here, and excited to get going again tomorrow. Q. In a tournament like this, how much time do you get to kind of size up your initial bracket and really see how you match up against your first opponent, I guess, with both teams that you might face in this regional? KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, that's a great question. Obviously Monday night it's a pretty quick turnaround, and when you head out on the road on Wednesday, you don't have that many days to prepare. So Monday night after, or Monday earlier when the bracket was released, we had an opportunity to start looking at K-State. Great team, great league. Myself, I had a chance to watch a ton of film. But as the head coach, I don't really look too far ahead. I think that's kind of on my assistant coaches. We had one of our assistants doing the K-State scout, one of my assistants doing the Robert Morris and one doing Louisville to prepare for the next round. But try to digest, try to see different opponents, so K-State, what is their style of play, is there anybody in our league that they're similar to, what's their defense, anybody in our league that they're similar to, and go through those scouts in our league in preparation for them. Quick turnaround, but quite a few days to just kind of get ready and prepare for them. But they're different than the next two opponents. But we try not to look too far ahead, especially from our kids' perspective and just concentrate on our first game. Q. As a follow-up, you had a week off since the Big Ten Tournament, but how much did that atmosphere really kind of prepare you for this kind of event? KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, I think even in the beginning of the year, we challenged ourselves early on over Thanksgiving and went down to Florida and played in a tournament where we played three days in a row, and we played against Missouri, Texas and Washington in that tournament in preparation for the Big Ten Tournament and for the NCAA Tournament. So the Big Ten Tournament was, I mean, a great atmosphere. Our first game we hadn't played in a while, and we were playing a Wisconsin team who had two upsets. So they were playing their third game in three days before we played our first game. So it took us a little bit to get going against a team that had nothing to lose. But we found our groove, and then the next day we got a chance to play in the semis versus Maryland. Great atmosphere, great basketball game, just a tremendous game. We wound up coming up on the short end of it by a point, but that was really preparation for us for the NCAA Tournament. We did have a week to prepare. It kind of gave us a chance to take a day off, let our kids get back in the classroom. Michigan is a tough academic school, really get back in the classroom, concentrate on their academics, but then have an opportunity to practice things that we needed to get better at in advance of the NCAA Tournament before we knew our opponent. So it was a great week of prep for us. Q. Two-part question: How much did you know about Kansas State and their head coach before you even started looking at the film? And you talked about trying to figure out who they're like in the Big Ten; what did you find when you looked at the film in terms of who they remind you of? KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, you know, obviously I've coached in the Big East, and I have assistant coaches that are now in the ACC, so if we were playing a team from one of those leagues, I would probably have a little bit more knowledge about them than I do about a team from the Big 12. But two years now we've had a chance to play teams from the Big 12. I just know their coach was a long-time coach at TCU, as well. Very successful coach. Runs a match-up zone, and that's kind of what they're known for a little bit, switches up defense, might do a triangle-and-two or might do a box-and-one, just throws a number of different things at you from the defensive end. So in preparation thinking about Northwestern and kind of what we've done against Joe McKeown is a guy that has run a match-up for a long period of time and kind of what we've run against them, what has been successful through the years against them. So probably similar to them. But they also then are five-out offensively and do a lot of five-out stuff. So their bigs shoot threes, as well. So we've faced that a number of times this year. We've faced that going back to like a Villanova-style team where they're cutting through, motion offense, five-out, really moving well without the basketball. So have had a couple of days so prepare for that, as well, so I hope that answers your question. Q. How much do you buy into the whole idea about coming into a different arena and trying to get -- not so much used to the atmosphere but like depth and all that with the shooting? Is that kind of overstated, or is there something to it? KIM BARNES ARICO: Well, I think in my younger day, stuff like that used to drive me crazy. Oh, my gosh, do we need to get there, do we need to shoot, do we need to practice there, how important is that. And I think as you get older, you kind of settle in a little bit and realize that just how I react is how my players will react. So I want my players to come into any arena and feel confident and not worry about how big it is, what the depth is. You know, just be confident in your shot and not worry about the wrong things and control the things we can control. So when we go into practice today, that's not even going to be something that's discussed for the next couple days. We're just going to go in there and do our shooting drills like we normally do our shooting drills, have our practice like we normally have our practice, and just try to keep our confidence and our focus on the basketball game and not so much the arena we are playing in. This place is outstanding. You know, it's a great arena. It's a great facility. So I think our kids will be excited about the environment more than anything else and excited to have an opportunity to show themselves individually and show our Michigan team on the big stage. Q. Does it help that you don't have to travel real far to a game like this? KIM BARNES ARICO: It's amazing. I mean, I love it, and we didn't know, you know, all the preliminary brackets and everything else, if we were going to be in California. Last year we were in Texas. I think it means a lot to the families of our kids to be able to be here and support them in the NCAA Tournament. I mean, that's something that's really important when you can look up and you have achieved the greatest thing you can achieve from a basketball standpoint is getting to the tournament, and to look up and see your parents in the stands is really important, and sometimes when you go that far from home on a quick turnaround, your parents aren't able to make those plans and get there. So I think it's really important to the players and our program that they have their family support there and a ton of them -- probably almost everyone will have someone from their family there. But I also think it's really important for our Michigan community. Two boys just walked in from our school paper, from The Michigan Daily, and they're here. I know our practice guys, that practice against us every single day said, "Coach, we're not going to miss it. We are getting up, we're missing class, don't tell anybody, on Friday, but we are leaving Friday morning and we are going to be there. We're going to be there to support our team." It's great that we're in driving distance and we are going to have people from our community here, as well, so I'm excited about that. Q. The last tournament you didn't have Hailey Brown, she was out in a season-ending injury. How do you think your presence at this tournament is going to change the outlook for you guys? KIM BARNES ARICO: Well, Hailey Brown is an outstanding player. For those of you that don't know her, she's from Canada. She plays for Team Canada. She's played for the Canadian national team, a U-19 team for a number of years, and she's just a tremendous asset. She's a really skilled post player, knocks down threes for us, and she's playing with a lot of confidence right now, as well. Even in the Big Ten last year, she wasn't in the Big Ten Tournament, and this year coming into the Big Ten, we were on the bus driving to the arena last week, and all I hear was Hailey Brown's voice in the back of the bus, I thought, golly, I haven't heard her speak this much all season long, but I think it was her excitement for the opportunity to play in the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament because she missed that last year. So she is an integral part of our rotation. She's a starter for us, shoots the three exceptionally well. We're happy that she's healthy and ready to go. Q. This is the second year in a row you guys have been able to make it, it's the first time in your tenure as a coach that you've gone back-to-back tournaments. How did last year's experience and how does it help make you maybe more comfortable coming into this year, the fact that those players last year won a game at this event and they know kind of what to expect here in the first game of this tournament? KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, I mean, you've been with us for the long haul, so you've seen the program's development and you know the year-by-year improvement and the brick-by-brick development. We were devastated and we felt like we got the snuff three seasons ago, and we went on to win the WNIT with some tremendous players like Katelynn Flaherty and Jillian Dunston and for us to get in the NCAA Tournament last year was a tremendous feat after what happened. But coming into this season with the loss of Katelynn Flaherty, and for those of you that don't know her she scored over 2,700 points for us, all-time leading scorer, man or woman, and when she graduated, the big question was how is Michigan going to respond to that and how are they going to be able to bounce back from that? I think led by Nicole Munger and Hallie Thome, our senior class but our entire program said, no, we are going to respond and we are going to show that it's not just one year, like we are a program and we're going to be there year in and year out and we want to take the next steps in the program. So I think Hallie Thome and Nicole Munger kind of said coming into this year, no, we're going to continue to do it, and their experience has kind of led us through this season, and I think it's been invaluable. Hallie's numbers are down from last year. She's not scoring as much. She's not rebounding as much. But her presence on the court has been unbelievable for our freshmen like Naz Hillmon, for Hailey Brown, for a Kayla Robbins. And her experience, when she's not our leading scorer sometimes she has the most assists. So she it understands the game, Nicole Munger understands the game. They know what it takes to get to this point of the season, and I think that is kind of what carried our team through, and I think that's what helped us get here with a level of confidence. Going into the Big Ten Tournament, our team really felt, and I'm sure you felt this from them, even through a tough January, we were going to win the Big Ten championship, and when we didn't, they were devastated. This gives them an opportunity to go out again and show the world Michigan basketball. So they're playing with a lot of confidence. I think those two have led the way with their leadership and their experience. Q. Coach, I know size has been one of the team's greatest strengths throughout this year. So how do you plan on taking advantage of that tomorrow against Kansas State? KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, I think Kansas State's goal, and just from watching them, and they've had some tremendous wins against Texas, played Baylor real tough, I think their goal was to try to keep you from getting the ball inside. So they really push their defense out to try to use their length from the top to try to not allow those posts up. But we know that's one of our keys tomorrow. Obviously rebounding but also establishing our posts. Hallie Thome is tremendous inside. Hailie Brown, Kayla Robbins, but Naz Hillmon, who is a freshman for us, really came on the scene and had a tremendous freshman season, and we need to establish our posts early. That's a difference maker for us, and that's a place where we have to go early in the ball game and often. Q. I want to get Hallie and Nicole, both you guys, this question: Two years ago obviously was really disappointing. Last year going into the tournament was the goal all year. Now you're back this year, but did both of you expect to be here and kind of how did you see this season going? Is it kind of what you thought it would be? HALLIE THOME: I think it was more than what we thought. A lot of people I think doubted us in the beginning, losing such a high scorer in Katelynn Flaherty and Jillian Dunston, who had such a big impact on defense, but I think everyone stepped up to it. We had a lot of people coming on. I think the most exciting part about our team is you can't just key in on one player. Any night any person can go off. So it's a very special team and we knew that from the start. It's exciting being here, and I think everyone is ready to take full advantage of it. NICOLE MUNGER: I'm just really proud of our whole team. Everyone worked their hardest day in day out to get to this point. Easily could have quit, whereas end of January things got really tough but we came together and we got better and we proved that we deserve to be in this dance and it's really exciting. Q. Naz, what has the leadership and what you've learned from a player like Hallie Thome meant to you? Obviously you came in and made a splash as a freshman. Did she take you under your wing at all? NAZ HILLMON: She definitely took me under her wing, into her house. But Hallie has been a big help. Just coming to practices you could see me talking to her about plays, and the other team about as much as I talked to coaches. She's been a great help on and off the court. I've talked about how she's helped me on the court but mentally she's tried to help me anything I needed, sending me texts when I need it. Just really being there whenever she can be. Being such an amazing player that she is I really appreciated it and I've learned a lot from her this year. Q. Last year in the tournament you guys didn't have Hailey Brown after she suffered a season-ending injury. How do you think her return to the lineup this season is going to help you guys essentially make a deeper run? HALLIE THOME: Hailey is a special player, being a post player that can shoot the three outstandingly. It's hard for team to guard her. So it's nice having her because she opens the floor a lot, but then she can also go in and get physical in the post. But just her energy on the court, the way she plays, she just has a calmness to her, which I think makes everyone around her feel even though the game is close, we're always good. NICOLE MUNGER: Yeah, having Hailey in the lineup definitely changes they dynamic of our team, like Hal said. Having her back is going to be great and open up the court with her three-point shooting for us. Q. I'm just wondering, what are you guys' feelings about being in the tournament? Obviously two seniors up there and then Naz being a freshman, for the two seniors, how does it feel that this is going to be your last tournament? And then Naz, maybe like how nice is it to make it in your first year in college? HALLIE THOME: Okay, it's definitely nice. I mean, this is on our goal sheet from the beginning of the year, so to be able to make it here in the first place is very competitive, hard to get in. So I think that just stands a lot for our season that we've had, and it's exciting being here and all the teams know, a lot of media have been saying don't play Michigan right now because we're on a roll and we know what to do. So I think it's just a credit to our team. So it's exciting to see all of our hard work pay off and to see that we've made it here and that we can go for a run. NICOLE MUNGER: I'm just really proud of the team and how we fought. Like I was saying earlier, the fact that we were down at the end of January and just continued to fight and we stuck together I think is really a testament to all our hard work and really proud of everybody. NAZ HILLMON: This is really exciting for me. I know that everybody doesn't get to be in this tournament and everybody doesn't get this opportunity, as the seniors know from a few years ago, but I'm really excited and just really trying to soak everything in and not take it for granted how blessed I am to be here. Q. Who on your team is coming in with a hot hand? Who do you feel like is really coming on the last part of the season on your team? HALLIE THOME: So it's hard to just say one person because I think our whole team, any given night, like I said, anyone can go off. But the best part of our team is our depth. That's what we said from the beginning. Having Naz, someone who could easily be a starter, off the bench, that's exciting. Her ability to affect the game the way she does is outstanding for a freshman in the first place, but just anyone, doesn't matter what year you are, to make that impact on the game is incredible. And then you have our juniors, Kayla Robbins and Akienreh Johnson, they have definitely broken out of their shells this year and have been critical players in tight games. It's very exciting to have the depth we have this year and to be able to use it to our advantage. Q. Hallie, every time I see you on the court, you have a smile on your face, whether it's the end of a game, in a pressure situation, or it's the start of a game against a team from the Mid-American Conference. It doesn't matter. Where do you get the joy for the game, and how do you think that has helped your team? HALLIE THOME: I think this year I made it like clear to myself to kind of don't be like counting down the days like, oh, my God, I only have this many games left, be present, be in the moment. A lot of that is taking the nervousness away, I'm just out here playing basketball. And I do think it's helped our team a lot. Before every games and before the coaches come in, I scream, "What are my two rules?" And it's play hard and have fun. If you play hard and have fun, and that's how we're been going the second half of the Big Ten and into the Big Ten Tournament. Those are the two rules, play hard and have fun and it's worked. It kind of reminds you of why you started playing basketball in the first place. It's not putting up stats, like don't worry about the numbers. If you go out there, play hard and have fun, that all takes care of itself. I think having the composure definitely helps in those tight-game situations, like in the Wisconsin one just being able to bring everyone in in the second overtime, I think guys are fresh, we're good. Just putting things in perspective and kind of cracking a laugh when everyone is a little nervous, just to ease the mood, and I think just that gives them confidence, and I think it helps me, too, by doing that. It's nice to see. I mean, I have all the confidence in the world in my teammates, but in tight situations, like everyone gets a little anxious. That's just reminding them of the confidence and just acting like I know what I'm doing, even though sometimes I have no idea what I'm doing, but it definitely works, and it's paid off for sure. Q. This is for Nicole: During the Big Ten season you guys had a lot of close games, ended up winning a lot of those close games. How do you feel those finishes have prepared you for the tournament? NICOLE MUNGER: Oh, definitely. I think we practice those every day in practice, just end-of-game situations, what we're going to call, and try to call the right plays and just the right reads for which person, and I think moving forward into these tournaments it's going to be a gritty game every single time, and it's going to come down to singular possessions that are going to win or lose games for you. So I think having the games in the Big Ten conference, we had a really strong conference this year, it's just going to prepare us so well for what we're going to face. Q. You guys have a size advantage on most teams in the country. I was wondering from an offensive and defensive perspective, what does that allow you guys to do to maybe like prevent teams from scoring or establishing your own offensive efficiency? NAZ HILLMON: We talk about every day in practice and every game how our length can affect teams. We know when we play like taller teams, we know how that can affect them on offense or defense, so we just have to take advantage of that, especially on defense, make sure we have our hands up and doing things to affect and alter their shots or their game, as well as going into I think the depth of our length. I mean, we just have so much of it, not just the starting five but the next five that come off the bench. So having that, so many people can do so many things. You have Hal, that can switch and having so much diversity, and we're just very versatile. HALLIE THOME: I think our length has been tremendous this year. I think 12 has been a whole new level for us because we have Naz Hillmon at the top. Her long arms and just long everything and athletic ability, that's definitely when we need a spark, Naz comes in and we go for 12 right away and we always get the turnovers we need to spark her offense. And then I think just that helps offensively our length, it's kind of hard to guard, like a lot of teams, even if we've been able to run like a certain set for some guards this year because our guards are taller than most. So being able to just take advantage and realize we have a size advantage has definitely helped this year. NICOLE MUNGER: Like they're saying, I think we're a lot more versatile because having the size in there because you can pick on different defenders, like Hal said, work hard so we can post them up. And also creating mismatch problems, even our post, like Hallie can really shoot the three, and she's still a tall guard, but we have two other beasts in the inside. So I think it's just really great for match-ups and use it to our advantage. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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