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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: CHICAGOMarch 29, 2019Gary BlairKayla WellsCiera JohnsonChennedy CarterChicago, Illinois THE MODERATOR: Coach Blair, we'll go ahead and start with an opening statement, please. GARY BLAIR: First, it's good to be back in Chicago. Got a lot of friends here, a lot of good memories here, and Gibsons last night was as good as it always is. But we're just glad to still be playing. The four teams that are here, we all have histories with each other. It could start back with Tara in '98 when I was at Arkansas, and that was when a 16 beat a 1. And then we went ahead and beat Harvard to go ahead and win that first two rounds, and then we won the next two rounds and got to the Final Four, a Cinderella, and who did we have to see? Kellie Harper, who's the coach on the best Tennessee team that they've ever had, by far, the best team, with the "Three Meeks" and Kellie Harper. It's like saying, who was the 5 player on the Chicago Bulls team? I can't remember, I just remember everybody else, and that's who it was. But I remember the Meeks. Muffet, we had a great National Championship game, 2011, and I'm sure Stanford thinks they should have won it that year, Baylor thinks they should have won it that year, and Notre Dame thinks they should have won it that year. So all three teams that we might possibly face here I have so much respect for. What Kellie has been able to do as a young coach going into the game and making about three stops along the way, I think she's on her way to being the next Muffet or the next Pat or the next somebody that's in the higher echelons. They're going to have a hard time keeping her at Missouri State because I think she's that good. So my team is happy to be here. We're as healthy as we've always been, except I've still got Jackson out with a shoulder, my best defensive guard off the bench, and she's been out for about five weeks now. She will not play this weekend, and of course Aaliyah Wilson, who did the ACL in Maui. Other than that, we're healthy. We've been productive this year, and I think we've overcome adversity and good play and bad play as well as any team I've ever coached. Are we as good as last year? Not as far as talent, but as far as result, yes. Is Notre Dame as good as they were last year? Yes, and they're better. They're better than they were last year. So I'm excited to have that opportunity. We had it in 2011, but we were not Cinderella then. We were a top 10 team the whole year, and we beat the best team in the country, Baylor. Well, in that little run we faced five straight Hall of Fame coaches: Vivian Stringer first, Andy Landers second, Kim Mulkey third, Tara VanDerveer, and then Muffet. I'm as proud of that as winning those ballgames, going against people that I respect in the profession. And each year there's something new to face, and I've faced Muffet twice since that 2011, and she beat me twice in two pretty close ballgames. All we want is one more opportunity. But Notre Dame is a better basketball team than they were last year when they won the National Championship. Questions? Q. Coach, Chennedy had 30-point game last game against Marquette, but one thing that stood out was not even her shooting but her passing for the game-winning shot. How does that show your versatility? GARY BLAIR: Her versatility, plus the nine rebounds she got in the ballgame. That's what's making her a complete player. Her defense was outstanding in that ballgame. We didn't talk about defense last year with her. That wasn't very pretty. But defense, when she's hooked up and playing it well, and Coach Starkey's system is very good. Her passing ability, she enjoys the pass as much as the score. Being in Chicago, y'all should understand what a good pass is, when Michael Jordan passed it to Steve Kerr and hit the shot. Great players will do that. Players with an eye in their forehead would have shot the ball themselves, but she trusted our little point guard who had only had 11 threes the whole year, but she was two out of three in that particular ball game. She trusted her, and it worked out. So give both of them a lot of credit. Q. Gary, you when you look at Notre Dame lost to North Carolina in Miami, were there any common denominators in those games that helped the fact that Notre Dame last those games? GARY BLAIR: They were both on the road. The road is an equalizer. It doesn't matter who you're playing. Things happen on the road. That's all you've got to do is look at sometimes the betting lines in the NBA games, and you say, my God, how can that be right? They're on the road. Miami is a very good ballclub. North Carolina has been a pretty good ballclub in the past, and at certain times this year, but Miami is a very good ballclub. Sometimes you think your team is ready, and all of a sudden you face somebody and the other team gets some momentum going, and that's why you try to stop that, particularly in the NCAA Tournament. There's not as many upsets in the NCAA Tournament as there used to be. I think both on the men's side and the women's side. Now, there's always -- I think there's four in the Sweet 16 here on the women's side that were upsets, and I don't think you're going to see much more. Those top seven or eight teams that are on the women's side, they've done it all year long. And the coaches are too good and the tradition is too good. You're really going to have to have your A game if you're going to be able to upset one of those top seven. We're glad to be here. It's going to be a good tournament, and you've got four possible winners, not just one here. Q. Chennedy, you had a 30-point game the other night against Marquette. Obviously the one play that stood out was that pass late in the game for the game winner. Gary was talking about how your versatility has been on another level and how your defense has improved. Talk to me about how that's been the case this season. CHENNEDY CARTER: The pass or defense? Q. Defense, sorry. CHENNEDY CARTER: It's just one of the things I'm starting to take pride in. Coach Starkey emphasizes a lot of things on defense, and I really just try to set the tone for my team, and they just get out there and try and guard the best player and get stops. Q. Chennedy, just what does it mean to get another crack at Notre Dame? CHENNEDY CARTER: It means a lot. Bittersweet end to last year. Didn't really accomplish the things we wanted to. But for us all to get another chance, and me to really get out there and be with my teammates, I'm really excited. Notre Dame is a great team filled with a bunch of great guards, so I'm ready to test my game, and I'm sure my teammates are ready to play, as well. Q. Kind of along those lines, is there kind of an extra chip on your shoulder from last year and just getting the chance to knock off the team that beat you? CHENNEDY CARTER: For me? Q. Yeah, for all three. CHENNEDY CARTER: No, not necessarily. I see the growth in our team, and I'm just really ready to play. I don't feel like it's a revenge game, I don't feel like it's anything like that. It's me competing to get to the Elite Eight. And Notre Dame is in our way, and the biggest thing for me is to make sure our team is ready to go out there and play. CIERA JOHNSON: I guess just we have nothing to lose in this situation. There's really no pressure on us because no one expects us to do anything, so we're just -- it's another game for us, and we're playing a very great Notre Dame team, so we've just got to come out, play hard and play together, and we'll be all right. KAYLA WELLS: Just to piggyback on what Ciera just said, just the same thing. We just need to go out there, just play hard and play together and follow our game plan. Q. A couple days ago football coach Jimbo Fisher gave you guys a motivational speech. What were some of the things you were able to take away from that going into the game tomorrow? CHENNEDY CARTER: The biggest thing I took away was just to be tough. When you're on the road and things are most likely not in your favor, you have to be tough and you have to have determination and push through tough times. I know when we play Notre Dame, we'll face a lot of adversity. There will be runs. They'll go up, we'll go up. It'll probably come down to the last minute of the game. And he just said you have to have grit, determination and push-through. That's the biggest thing I took away from that. CIERA JOHNSON: I took away he said do your job. And I think that's the key in basketball. Everyone needs to know their role and just go out -- Kayla might be scoring, so the rest of us need to find a way to get her the ball, grab offensive rebounds. So it's not always about scoring but what's your role on the team. KAYLA WELLS: He said that we shouldn't go out there -- we shouldn't play to win, we should just play, just play hard. Don't worry about winning because in big games like this, if you worry about winning, that's when you start to choke, that's when you start to mess up. So we just need to worry about playing at this point. Q. Ciera, talk about going against Shepard. Does she remind you of anyone, and what's going to be the key there? CIERA JOHNSON: She's her own player. She's very good. She's very quick. Offensively she has a nice face-up game. She's very physical. I've been watching film of her. So she's very good. I think she's her own player in her own right. I don't think I will be guarding a player like her like I have in the SEC. But I credit her, she's very good. Very good. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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