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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: IOWA CITYMarch 21, 2019Jennie BaranczykBecca HittnerSara RhineIowa City, Iowa JENNIE BARANCZYK: I'm impressed you got everyone's name right. It's so nice. Nicely done. We're really excited to be here. Being in the NCAA tournament it never gets old. There's always just this unbelievable feeling. I'm really, really proud of the way that we've been able to just have a complete season, and obviously there's been moments that we'd love to have back and we'd love to do different, but there have also been some good moments. To get an at-large bid at Drake, we're really proud of that. And at the same time I think we're hungrier than ever. We're ready and really excited that we get to play close enough to home that our fans get to come with us, and I think that's a significant part of what we do, so it's going to be really fun to have that. Q. Sara, what was your reaction, being from Missouri, getting to play Mizzou? SARA RHINE: I'm really excited. I was really excited for any team to pop up. But it was fun having that connection, that being my home state and getting to play a team that's from there. Q. Becca, and for anybody from that matter, when you saw your name come up, what -- you see Iowa City, so you know you're close, then you see a 10, for one thing, are you excited to be close to home and also do you feel you're under seeded? BECCA HITTNER: I'm super excited to be close to home. It's going to be awesome for our fans to come to the game. Just super exciting to have blue around. We're just excited for this tournament, regardless of the seed. We're just ready to give it our all and really compete tomorrow. Q. Sara, two straight seasons now, your NCAA, your first opponent is an SEC opponent, what did you take away from Texas A&M last year? SARA RHINE: Just looking that we do have to focus on who we are and what we bring, and being very confident in the strengths that we do have. And knowing, I don't know what we have is a little different from what the people have seen and taking pride in that I think is the biggest thing, the biggest take away. Q. Sara, what's your guys game plan when this comes to Sophie RHINE and stopping her? SARA RHINE: She's a good player, we have to know where she is at on the floor. But going back to my last comment, we really are focusing on what we need to do on both ends, both defensively and offensively, in order to be our best. Q. Coach, Sara led the conference in shooting her freshman year, so you're obviously getting a polished player. But how has she improved with her time at Drake? JENNIE BARANCZYK: Sara is a special player, you just listen to her talk, she's so genuine, she's an incredible person, incredible leader for our team. But I do think she's really expanded her game. I think she came in as a freshman and just did what she could do as a freshman and every year she's added a different element. Obviously she's always been able to run the floor, she can catch pretty much everything. Her defense is better, her rebounding is better, she's gotten a lot stronger. I love the way that she positions well, and she's obviously extended her range. So I think she's really a complete player. And this year I think she's even added passing to her game, as well. And so she really just fits who we are and she really has just expanded her own self. And I think that's what's really neat. Q. Have you gotten a chance to reflect on kind of the coaching ties that are here with Lisa and Robin? JENNIE BARANCZYK: I'm very well aware that Lisa coached me. And I've known Robin for a really long time and obviously we play Iowa every single year. But we aren't even looking to playing Iowa, we are really focusing on Missouri. And obviously Robin has done an incredible job, and I have all the respect in the world. She came from Illinois State and I followed a lot of what she did there. There are a lot of Iowa ties, and I think that's what's pretty cool. I think the things that's so neat about the State of Iowa is how important women's basketball is. And there are so many fans. And I've talked up Iowa and Iowa State all year long. With Iowa State being able to host, with Iowa being able to host, people will come. Sometimes on the national scene people don't realize what we have here in this state. When you see how many blue people come over to this game, people get to have a view of really how great women's basketball is in the State of Iowa. And you can go to the state tournament in high school. You can go to high school games. You can see any facet. So in terms of ties, I'm really proud of being an Iowa girl. And I'm really proud of the fact that our sport really matters in this state. Q. Missouri sounded pretty confident in their high advantage down low. They seemed confident in their advantage down low. But they, where do you think you guys can be effective down low with your zone? JENNIE BARANCZYK: Well, not many people have Gustafson, right, let's be honest, that's why she's player of the year. But they should be confident. We're in the NCAA tournament. We're confident. We're in the NCAA tournament. So we really need to focus on what we do have than what we don't have. We can go through and I can tell you a million things that I wish we could be better at or don't have, but there are also a lot of things that we are pretty good at we need to make sure that we play the way we want to play and really keep more focus on that. I mean obviously we need to rebuild the basketball, and every single coach would tell you that's a major key to the game. That's something that we've got to be able to do. But I do think that -- I think both teams probably have advantages and so the game always comes down to really who outplays the other team. Q. Coach, you probably have the person who knows Missouri best in your locker room in Grace Berg. How much have you leaned on her, just in the scout for Missouri? JENNIE BARANCZYK: You know, that's a really good question. And to be completely honest with you, we're not going to put her in that position. We're not -- she's a great person and that situation is one that is very personal to her. And so we're not going to put her in that position. She's on our team, we're really excited to be able to have her, but that doesn't give us an advantage over another team because of that situation. Q. When you were recruiting Sara what drew you to her and what drew her to Drake? JENNIE BARANCZYK: Well, one, Sara is a 4.0 student, so she's very smart. And she's definitely -- she is the definition of a student-athlete. So I think that the academic fit is a no-brainer. She's also -- she's a culture person. She loves what she does. She loves being part of a team. She really builds people up around her. She's got a natural confidence in herself and other people. The culture was a fit. The style of play, we want to be up tempo, we want to be able to run the floor. And she fits that really well. And so when you have those things fit in every facet it's amazing what can happen. And fit, fit creates magic. Q. Lisa said that you and Robin actually played a pretty similar game? JENNIE BARANCZYK: So do you think that she thinks that Robin was really good? I'm just asking. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Q. Do you see that in how you coach your teams, that competitiveness, that fierceness? JENNIE BARANCZYK: Well, I mean I have -- I don't even know how to really answer that question. I know that all of the coaches here are really competitive. I mean that's why we're all here, right, is because we loved playing. We loved the form of competition, whatever that looks like. So I don't really know how to exactly answer that question. I know -- I have a lot of respect for Robin, I knew her more as a coach than a player. But I do know Lisa is one of the most competitive people I know, too, and I'm in coaching because I got to play for her. And those are things that -- that's probably the best way I can answer that. I don't have another way really to give you a better answer. Q. Your AD put out a Tweet earlier this week, a lot of teams that have similar RPIs, similar records against top 40 or 50 or hundred or something like that are all five and six seeds. Do you take the ten seed a little bit personal? JENNIE BARANCZYK: That's a good question, and one that I probably continue to get asked. And honestly do you like being a ten seed when we've scheduled the way that we have in the nonconference? No. Do I like having an at-large bid? Yes. Do I like where we get to play in terms of having our fans be able to come? Yes. But I'm not in the business right now to fight what the seed is. We're in the business right now to be able to show up and give everything that we have. And that's the only focus that I have right now and we can get in a reflective mode later and that's more Brian's job than it is my job. My job is to prepare our team to play Missouri tomorrow as a ten seed. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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