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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: GREENSBORO

March 29, 2019

Lisa Bluder

Greensboro, North Carolina

COACH LISA BLUDER: Like everybody else, we're thrilled to still be playing but we certainly would still like to be playing in April just like everybody else. You know, this is just a great opportunity for our players, but we're not satisfied right now. We're still hungry.

We're excited to be able to play North Carolina State. We know that they obviously have the home-court advantage here, playing here numerous times in the tournament, and only being a few miles away from their campus.

But at the same time, our team has just had such great energy all year. The energy that they need is just within our circle and we're excited to have the opportunity to come here and showcase our team in the Sweet 16.

Q. For people here in town who haven't seen your team play, there's going to be a lot of curiosity about Megan. What can fans expect to see from her?
COACH LISA BLUDER: I could write a book right now. It's hard to put into just a few sentences. Megan is just a tremendous player, as far as you can look at her statistics and see that she leads the United States in five different statistical categories, including points per game, field goal percentage. She's a double-double machine. She not only scores but she rebounds for us. She finishes up the defense with an unbelievable job on the defensive glass.

But I think what makes Megan so special is not just her basketball statistics. I think that's really a disservice to her to just look at her statistics and say that's what she is as a player. She's so much more than that. She is a teammate; one of the best teammates, one of the hardest workers I've ever been around. She's a great leader and academic student. She's a double business major at the University of Iowa in finance and marketing. She's a community role model for us. There's boys and girls around the State of Iowa that look up to her and emulate her. She's an unbelievable role model.

I don't like to just talk about her basketball abilities, although that could fill up complete newspaper herself, but it's what she is as a person that makes Megan special.

Q. You're back in the Sweet 16 and won the conference tourney in many, many years. Has this season felt special and different to you?
COACH LISA BLUDER: Yeah I think you have to have a special team or you're not here, we're in the Sweet 16, Top-4 percent of the teams in the United States are here right now. I think every Sweet 16 team is special and ours certainly is.

I think that this team not only has the talent but they have the camaraderie to go with it and the unselfish play, we're one of the top teams in the country in assists and this team knows how to distribute the ball and they are very unselfish. That's the different element is not only are they talented and we have an All-American on this team -- you know, I don't like to say -- Megan has a great supporting cast, and I think you don't get here without that.

You can have an All-American on your team, but you don't get this far unless there's a great supporting cast around her. But I think what makes this team special, it's their love for each other. It's that they believe that they are a family and they will do anything for each other, and I think that's what makes the difference.

Q. You've had a chance to look at N.C. State. What concerns you about them? What do they do that could be a problem?
COACH LISA BLUDER: You know, I think they are so good at spot-up 3s. I mean, 38 percent of their shots are 3s. They shoot the 3 ball very well.

I think that Cunane is a great match-up with Megan. She has more heighth than Megan. Obviously Megan has a little more experience, but I see her as just one of the next up-and-coming great posts in America, so I think that that's going to be a terrific matchup.

I think Leslie is a great player that can score in a variety of ways and I think those kids are so hard to defend when you have to worry about not only their three-point shot but their ability to beat you off the bounce. Her pull-up jumper at 15 is beautiful. Those type of things.

But they are all good players. Crutchfield and the way she's shooting the 3 right now, are you kidding, 70 percent in the last five games. That's unbelievable numbers. There's a lot of things that certain me about them.

Q. Hate to keep harping on Megan, but the 70 percent shooting percentage, that's staggeringly good. It has to be more than just being close to the basket. How do you explain that kind of shooting percentage?
COACH LISA BLUDER: Practice. I mean, the kid just practices and practices. Works hard.

You know, there are some kids that kind of have a false confidence at this time of year. You know, they have kind of pulled the wool over people's eyes, but she's earned her confidence. I mean, she's been in the gym from day one that she walked on our campus. She's been one of the hardest workers we've ever had, so she gets her confidence through a lot of hard work, and it's there. It's there.

Q. I saw Megan was ranked as the No. 12 recruit in the nation. Can you imagine 11 better than her, and what was her recruiting story like?
COACH LISA BLUDER: She was 90th, if I remember right. She just made the Top-100 or something like that -- 12th in her position.

You know, we found Megan around her sophomore year in high school and was putting up unbelievable numbers at Wisconsin in the state tournament, and then we were able to get her to our campus for our elite camp following her sophomore year and that's when we knew how special she was when we actually had the chance to work with her on the court. It was then that we offered her a scholarship. She visited some other schools obviously but committed to us relatively early. I think the end of her junior year is when she committed to us.

Q. Beyond talking about Gustafson, let's talk about some other players and some match-ups, because Wes is worried about certain matchups and I'm sure you're concerned others. What are some of the matchups that you want to see; that you would like to see; that you are concerned about seeing?
COACH LISA BLUDER: I think every single matchup you look at on paper is really good. I mean, I think point guard to point guard, I think you look at every single one of those match-ups and they are all intriguing. They are all interesting.

I think that you look at Rogers and what -- how explosive she is as an athlete in what she does, I think that's a great match-up with Hannah Stewart. I think every one of these match-ups -- it's kind of ironic, both of our teams are not very deep.

So I think the whole -- you know, I could go down every single one of them. I think all the matchups are very unique and interesting.

Q. Following up on the post players, what do you see -- do you see anything in Cunane that you saw when Gustafson was 16, 17, 18 years old and what types of defenses has she seen that the Big Ten has thrown at her over the four years?
COACH LISA BLUDER: For Cunane, I think she's got better body balance than Megan had when she was a freshman. Megan came in never really lifting weights or having that kind of background; so the weight development that she did, the strength development that she did, she just became a better athlete.

But I think Cunane, she's a good athlete now. I think she runs the court well now. I think her -- she seals extremely well. I mean, her teammate -- just like our team with Megan, I think does a great job of feeding her. I think they do a great job on seals.

I definitely think she is definitely one of the best up-and-coming best centers in America. I really believe that. I think we're going to see a lot about her in the future.

Q. Any defenses you've seen --
COACH LISA BLUDER: You name it, we've seen it. Everybody's tried all kinds of stuff. You know, has it worked? I don't know. She's shooting 70 percent, averaging 28 points. I don't think a whole lot has worked, but we've seen everything.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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