NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - IOWA VS ILLINOIS STATE

March 17, 2022

Lisa Bluder

Caitlin Clark

Monika Czinano

Iowa Hawkeyes

Media Conference

LISA BLUDER: I'm glad to be in the NCAA Tournament again. I'm thrilled that it's here in Iowa City in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Our Hawk fans are amazing, selling this place out. We may be breaking our current NCAA record of attendance set in the first and second rounds. I'm just thrilled that -- the people that work here at Iowa, our administration, our facilities people have worked so hard to make this a great event.

We're just excited. The lights are on and we're dancing and we're having fun.

Q. You talk about the sellout for tomorrow. You've got that crowd, you had that crowd at the end of the season. What's this mean for your program, to have this kind of sport at this time?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, I mean, it just feels so good. It makes me feel like our product is appreciated by our fans, that they're excited about watching us. They're excited about supporting us. It doesn't happen everywhere. There's a lot of really good basketball teams across the country that don't get the support from their communities and from their state like we do. We don't take it for granted. We appreciate it, and I think that's one of the things that makes this team so kind of lovable is that they do appreciate it.

They work hard for that respect, but they also are very grateful and appreciate it and are amazing role models. I'm excited about what this is doing for our program. It can only help with recruiting, continued fan support in the future.

Q. We talked to you on Sunday right after the announcement and you didn't really know anything about Illinois State. Now that you've had time to go over their film, what are some of the challenges you see with facing them?

LISA BLUDER: Really good defensive team. They play exclusively player to player defense. I know they're going to bring help on Monika, but they just really do a good job. Juju does a great job of getting out and denying them. I'm sure she's going to be on Caitlin, but a very, very good defensive team and hang their hat on that.

Q. Speaking of defensive teams, that was one of the big storylines coming into the season. You gave up 80 a game last year, it's down to 70 this year. What has improved? You said at the beginning of the year it was going to be some scheme things, some effort things. What's led to this improvement?

LISA BLUDER: I think it's a lot of things you just said. Definitely I think we made some schematical things that can helped us defensively. Also I think the team just understands the importance of it. We talked about how last year we got to the Sweet 16 with a really, really good offense but a pretty poor defense. And if we want to go farther, which all these women want to do, then we had to improve the defense.

So it was buy-in, it was commitment by our coaches to continue to stress it all year long, and it was just buy-in by our players that they were going to put more effort into it.

There was a couple other things, I think we've taken care of the ball a little bit better that hasn't given up easy baskets at the other end. We're doing a little bit better job in those areas.

But more than anything, it was a mentality of just wanting to be a better defensive team.

Q. With this kind of crowd, your kids have played in front of this sort of a thing, but a lot of the teams that are here really haven't. What can you sort of delineate as the difference for those teams? What will it take for them to adjust to this? Or will it?

LISA BLUDER: I think it's harder to come into an environment that's pretty hostile and pretty loud and try to communicate. If you're not used to communicating with your team in that type of environment, it can be tough. If the team itself is not used to communicating with that, it can be hard to hear your play calls, to communicate as a group, and also it can get you down.

With all these people, 15,000 people cheering against you or cheering for the Hawkeyes, I think that can be disheartening. It can kind of take the wind out of your sails a little bit. I think it can help us stay on a momentum, too, can let us ride that momentum a little bit longer when you have crowds just giving you energy like this.

I think it's more what it gives us versus what it takes away from them.

Q. If you look at these last three weeks in a vacuum -- and you guys had two weeks of really intense basketball, Big Ten Tournament, the end of the regular season -- then you get a whole week off and then three, four days to kind of ratchet everything back up. I know we touched a little bit about this on Sunday, but kind of the mental makeup of where this team is at right now, being able to get those March-esque experiences but then also a break. Where do you feel like that side of things is at right now?

LISA BLUDER: I think our team is champing at the bit to get back on the court. I think the break was well deserved and needed, but you're right, there's the highs and then you have to come down from that and then build back up again.

I think our team is pretty mature, having been in this situation last year, although we didn't have the week off last year because our tournament was moved back a week.

I think they are so excited to get back on the court. I don't think they've lost any step or any drive or anything like that having this time off. I think more than anything, they're so excited to get out here and play in front of this crowd again and to have the opportunity to play in Carver.

Q. I know you have better things to do than look at Twitter, but after your Big Ten championship, Tania Davis and Zion Sanders, both tweeted about Kate Martin, and Tania said that she's the kid she'd really want to play with. What do you take from that?

LISA BLUDER: First of all, I love it that our graduates of our program are that vested. And honestly they -- I FaceTimed with Tania that night. She FaceTimed our staff. It makes me really glad that our former Hawkeyes are so passionate about our current success and about just the success of this team.

Wanting to play with Kate, who wouldn't want to play with Kate Martin? She is the epitome of a teammate as far as she's going to look out for everybody else. She puts everybody else ahead of herself.

She is smart. She understands how to hold people accountable without tearing them down. She demands a lot out of herself, and so she leads by example, but at the same time she's the first person to hold you accountable and pat you on your back.

I think the team has so much trust in her. She had a fabulous Big Ten Tournament, and I was really, really happy for her to have that kind of success because that's what we saw out of her all summer really.

If we have Kate playing like that, this team can go far.

Q. You said your players are champing at the bit to get back on the court. How are you going to make sure they're not too jittery playing for the first time in two weeks in front of a sold-out crowd?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, you want them to have that little bit of excitement, a little of nerves. If you don't have a little bit of butterflies in your stomach it doesn't mean a lot to you. So I want them to have a little bit of that, and I'm sure they'll come out in those first five minutes and maybe perform like that, but then they'll settle down. They'll settle down after that little bit of time and come back.

I want them to be excited. I want them to have those jitters a little bit, and then I know that we'll be able to, after that first media time-out, kind of everybody take a deep breath and let's go from here and then enjoy the experience.

Q. Piggy-backing on the Kate Martin thing, how much do you see her down the road as a potential coach? Is she coaching material in your eyes?

LISA BLUDER: Absolutely. First of all, Kate comes from a coaching background. Her dad is the high school football coach, so she's been around athletics all of her life.

She understands things like -- there's the X's and O's part and then there's how to manage people part. She really has both of those angles.

Her dad, I think, has been a real strong influence for her on leadership and how to be as a player, how to lead even if you're not the star. I definitely see Kate being a coach at a very high level.

Q. I looked at Illinois State, they're in the 300s in pace of play. How important is it for you guys to try to get out and run on them early in the game and get them to play at a tempo they're not used to playing?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, when you see somebody with a pace of play like that, it contributes, right, to your defensive numbers. Just like when we play at a fast rate, we're going to give up more points because there's more opportunities. That hurts our defensive numbers a little bit.

But we will absolutely get out and run because that's us. We're not going to change anything. Are they going to try to slow it down? Well, you can try to slow it down on the offensive end, but it's pretty hard to slow it down on the defensive end when we have the ball in our hands.

We'll make the most of those situations. If they want to milk the clock on the offensive end, so be it. We need to get out and deny the passing lanes a little bit more. We need to create our own offense from our defense.

If that happens, it happens, but I know on the offensive end we'll play Iowa basketball.

Q. Obviously it's awards season. When it comes to All-American teams, Caitlin Clark consensus All-American. But Monika Czinano, finally getting a little bit of national recognition, when it came to the honorable mention team. How big has she been and is that an award you've been waiting on for her and the national media to see? And how big do Caitlin and Monika feed off each other and do you think they would be having success alone as opposed to together?

LISA BLUDER: Have you seen their shirt that they created? So I think that kind of speaks for itself. They know they rely on each other. Caitlin knows that Monika is an assist waiting to happen. Monika knows Caitlin is going to give her the ball right where she needs it. They love playing together, and they rely on each other a lot.

I was thrilled when I heard yesterday that Monika got honorable mention All-American. Do I believe she's top 10 in the country instead of top 15? Yes, I do. But I know it sometimes happens in steps.

I mean, she leads the country in field goal percentage shooting. How can you not say she's one of the top 10 players in the country? But I'm thrilled that she was recognized by everybody that she's in the top 15 players.

Sometimes people forget there's only five in the first and five in the second and five honorable mention. That's pretty special.

I think she deserves it. I'm really, really glad to see nationally that people understand that and respect her for the player that she is.

Q. We don't get to talk to you before the game tomorrow, but tomorrow is when it starts, the win-or-go-home part of the season. What are those last thoughts you're going to have as you go to bed tonight and get ready for the game tomorrow?

MONIKA CZINANO: I think just being so excited. This is the time every basketball player dreams for, and we've been dreaming all season and off-season. I think more than anything it's just excitement for what's to come and knowing what our team is capable of. Definitely going to have to take a melatonin. Going to be very wired. But I'm so excited.

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think I'm in the same boat. I'm super excited. We get to sleep in our own beds tonight which is really nice. A lot of teams don't get to do that, and we get to play in front of our sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena tomorrow. I might be in the same boat as Monika, might be a few melatonin gummies. But no, I'm excited, it'll be good.

Q. How is the approach different this year than last? You're playing in front of people and not in a bubble. Does that add to the excitement?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think it's awesome. Obviously this is really my first real March Madness experience and this is what I grew up watching as a little kid. I was just back at my apartment and I had the games on. Like this is my favorite month of the year. I just love it. I love basketball. I always have growing up.

This is what I really dreamed of, and we get to do it on our home court in front of a sold-out crowd. I don't think we could really ask for anything better, honestly.

MONIKA CZINANO: Yeah, I've only had one year, freshman year, that was similar to this, and we actually went to Greensboro so it's actually coming full circle for me a little bit. I think especially having Hawkeye fans and having it being sold out on top of that is going to make this environment one of the best in March and one of the best in the country.

I think everybody is excited. I think you've got to be. It's such a fun time of year for every college athlete. Yeah, I think we're all just really wired to go.

Q. You've talked about the sellout; what does it mean to you to have -- you had the sellout at the end of the season, this game is a sellout. What does that mean to you to get that kind of support at this part of the year?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, it's tremendous. This doesn't happen many places in the country for women's basketball. I'm just really thankful this community supports us like we do. It's spring break, there's not many people around town anyway, and to still have it sold out is pretty incredible and just to have that excitement around our game. I don't know if really any other place -- probably South Carolina is sold out, too -- but other than that, I don't know if it's going to be sold out anywhere else. We're very lucky, very fortunate, and to have that excitement around our team is pretty special.

MONIKA CZINANO: Yeah, it's kind of indescribable walking out of the tunnel to a sold out crowd and they're cheering for you. It's something that not many people get to experience. I hope Hawk fans know how much it means to us, how much it really does help us momentum-wise, and how we love the support. It's part of the reason we all chose Iowa. The support here is crazy. It's unbelievable.

It's amazing having that behind you.

Q. Can you guys talk a little bit about Illinois State and what problems they present? It appears you will have a substantial advantage in the post. How are you going to try to take advantage of that?

MONIKA CZINANO: Yeah, we are fortunate enough to play a decent amount of MVC teams normally with Drake and UNI. Obviously Drake didn't happen this year, but we know how good those teams ares, that conference is, and how we can't take it lightly.

When it comes to the post, I'm really excited to kind of get a new look outside of the Big Ten. I know all those posts pretty well.

But I just think playing hard is something that our team does every game. It's going to be huge and just going into that game treating it like it's a normal thing, not looking at it any differently, and just making sure I go out and do what I know I can do and have fun.

Q. Caitlin, you look at the last three weeks and you guys had a pretty intense end of the regular season and then the Big Ten Tournament. Then you got a whole week off. I know this time of year everybody kind of looks for what's the perfect lead-in to the NCAA Tournament to get your best product on the floor. Do you feel you guys have had kind of a good blend of getting March-esque environments and stress and all that but then also some mental rest and reset before Friday?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think certainly. I think obviously the way we ended the season with a lot of close games, intense games, and then obviously going right to the Big Ten Tournament and playing three games there and winning it all, I think we really needed that rest when we came home. We had a few days off and then we were back to practice and they were competitive. We were scrimmaging.

I think at the same time, no matter if you were playing or if not, it would have been the same story for us. I think it was good to have that rest, though, but we're super excited to get back on the court. I think we're all just a little anxious to play in a game again and we're lucky we get to do it at home, but I think we're just super excited to go play in a real game environment again.

Q. With the regular season kind of in the rearview mirror, how do you think your defense has improved compared to last year both individually and as a team?

MONIKA CZINANO: I think team and individually, it's improved tremendously, and I think everybody has just really bought into it more than anything.

We did a lot of defense in the off-season, really worked on the fundamentals, changed some things. I just think our team realizes the value of it a little bit more than we did last year. It's really showing. We've come out in games a little bit stronger on defense right from the get-go and we're seeing the rewards with it obviously with two trophies.

I just really think we've all bought into it.

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I totally agree. I think we've all improved in a lot of areas, and obviously we play a fast style of basketball, so you're going to give up a decent amount of points just because people have more opportunities to score. But I know our numbers are a lot better, and we worked on it a lot. It wasn't always fun, but that's what we needed to do if we wanted to reach our goals now.

You're basically 0-0 now so it doesn't really matter. You've got to be at your best, and if you lose you go home. We're going to need it in March, and that's what we worked all summer for, to be at our best right now.

Q. Monika, I saw a fun stat line on Twitter, something like less than 20 dribbles in the entire regular season. What do you attribute that to? Are you coached to do that? Is it just great assist passing? What is it?

MONIKA CZINANO: I think it's a little bit of both quite honestly. My entire time here I've been blessed with great point guards who have made my job really easy. I don't have to take dribbles a lot of the times. It would be silly to quite honestly. I'm definitely coached that dribbling takes time, dribbling allows the help to come. 20 dribbles is kind of a lot, if I'm honest, for what I'm taught and what I do. So it's definitely a mix of both.

Coach will tell you firsthand that if I dribble, I'll probably see it in film. But a lot of times people aren't expecting it now so I feel like I have been dribbling a little bit more lately. But me dribbling a little bit more is like maybe one a game. That's considered a little bit more.

Yeah, definitely.

Q. To go off that, Monika, after we talked about that a couple weeks ago, I started to notice in games when you did dribble the basketball and it seems like even when you do dribble, those are really well used and it's to get you to the hoop or to get you in a better position. When you are able to use them in a good way, is it still something you see on film, something you want to take out or are you okay with it?

MONIKA CZINANO: No, it's definitely okay with it. I think a lot of times what's been happening lately is teams scout me that I'm not going to dribble, so when I do dribble it's really effective and nobody's expecting it so they don't really know what to do.

Yeah, normally when I see it in film, it's a good thing. It's oh, this was a good time to use a dribble type of thing. But it's just -- it definitely gets flagged just because it's something you don't see very often.

Q. You guys were kind of in the middle of January, you lost to IUPUI, lost to Northwestern. It didn't look like there was a chance that you were going to be in a position to host. Were you thinking about that as you guys sort of rallied the troops and won some games there in February?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think we were certainly thinking about that, and obviously we weren't at our best then, and then had to deal with injuries and COVID and things like that. I don't think we ever hung our head or anything like that. I think we knew we had so many opportunities still in front of us, and we took full advantage of them.

And now that's why we're on the 2 line, we're here hosting, and I think it's very deserved. We really just kept working hard and really just came back every single day even when we had a hard day the day before. We just came back to work because we knew there were so many opportunities for us to succeed going forward. And hosting is very important, and that's where we wanted to be, and we certainly earned it over the past month really.

MONIKA CZINANO: I totally agree with what Caitlin said. I think in the beginning of the season, we just weren't all clicking like we knew we could. We weren't playing our style of basketball like the way we knew we could and that we had been practicing.

So definitely down the stretch kind of figuring out what we needed to do, what was required of us to reach our goals that we've had for the whole season was huge. I just think our team towards the end is peaking at the right time, and that's kind of exactly what every coach wants and every team wants is for every team to be playing their best basketball right now, and I think we're really doing that.

Q. When Coach Bluder was out here. She talked about how a lot of former players have been really keeping up with the team, tweeting about them, obviously, FaceTiming Coach. What do you think that says about the program and just the culture she's built here at Iowa?

MONIKA CZINANO: Yeah, I know I've met some of my best friends. I've FaceTimed Kathleen, and it was 1 a.m., where she is, and she was so excited after one of our Indiana games, she was like, I don't know how I'm going to sleep, I'm just so excited. I've talked to Megan, I've seen Tania tweeting, I've talked to Z. These are just some lifelong relationships and I think that's what make this program so special is that it harbors these relationships and it harbors the best culture possible.

It's great seeing Hawk fans keep in touch and it really makes me excited for my future with the Hawkeye program just knowing that these relationships are kept forever and that you really are A hawk for life.

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think certainly that just speaks to the culture that Coach Bluder has created here. People get so excited about our success we're having even if they played 20 years ago. But I think Z, Lexie, Megan, hearing from them and their excitement around us in the Big Ten tournament, at the end of the regular season really speaks to what Coach Bluder has built here. And it's amazing, and to have that support like that, it's not like that everywhere else, and it's pretty special.

Q. Kate Martin has been referred to as the glue of this team, captain, leader, stuff like that. What do you see as far as potential coaching possibilities for her down the road?

CAITLIN CLARK: Absolutely. I think Kate would be a great coach. I've never met somebody so competitive until I got here. We're basically the same person. Sometimes we butt heads because we're so competitive and we both want to win.

But yeah, I think she's the best teammate I've really ever had, and she would make a tremendous coach some day. She holds people accountable but also builds them up. Yeah, I mean, she would be a tremendous coach and maybe we could team up and coach together, all three of us.

No, I really see her being a coach one day. I think that's what she wants to do. I'd be at her games supporting her, so I think she could coach on a very high level and be very, very successful.

MONIKA CZINANO: Yeah, I'm a little biased, she's my best friend. I already told her my kids will play for Kate Martin. They don't really have a choice. I've never met somebody as smart with people. Like good with them is one thing, but she's smart. She knows exactly what people need from her, what's going to get the most out of them.

At this level you kind of understand the X's and O's decently well. She takes it to the next level and just really -- she has to play some seasons the 1 through the 5. She just really knows every position and is so smart with it.

She really makes our team what we are now. We wouldn't be the team we are without her. She demands so much from us and is so kind and competitive like Caitlin said. She really is the teammate you want on your team, and we're so lucky to have her.