NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - AMERICAN VS MICHIGAN

March 18, 2022

Kim Barnes Arico

Leigha Brown

Naz Hillmon

Danielle Rauch

Michigan Wolverines

Media Conference

Q. We didn't get a chance to talk to you guys when you guys were the No. 3 seed. What does it mean to you as players to get to potentially your last two games at Crisler as seniors? What does that mean to you? I know Leigha, you're coming back next year. But Naz and Danielle, what does it mean to be hosting those last two games in front of all the fans?

NAZ HILLMON: I mean, it means a ton. I think we came into Michigan on a mission, wanted to complete a lot of our goals. This was one of our goals, and the fact that we're being able to do it during our senior year is super special. As a senior you're like, you get to play the last two games in front of your crowd and have so many of our supporters who's been with us since we've been freshmen to come in, not have to travel too far to see us play. It's a special moment just to be in Crisler one more time and being around those fans especially.

DANIELLE RAUCH: I think just to echo that, it's so exciting to be in Ann Arbor, to be in front of our home crowd, to play in Crisler again. Being here means the world to all of us. Having everyone be able to come support us and be here, it's really been fun.

Q. What do you think the biggest strength of this team is?

LEIGHA BROWN: I think just the way we play. I think that looking at kind of our roster from top to bottom, we might not necessarily be the most talented, but I think just the culture that we have and the way that we play together is really, really special. And I think you can see that from an outsider's point of view. Just continuing to play as hard as we can, be the hardest-working team in America, I think we'll definitely have an advantage.

Q. You've had some time to regroup since the Big Ten Tournament. What's been the team message heading into March Madness?

DANIELLE RAUCH: Yeah, I think just refocusing and switching our perspective a little bit. I think some of the losses that we had down at the end of our season really dimmed all of the great things that we did early on and the great season that we did have.

Just putting down that weight of those losses and having fun. Again, I think just refocusing on that, getting back to who we were. I think we had some really great practices this week. So just having fun together again, getting back in the groove, just getting back to who we are and what we do and having fun is at the core of that. Just enjoying this moment because not everybody gets a chance to be here.

NAZ HILLMON: Yeah, a big thing was to kind of treat those two weeks as a preseason again. This is a new season, 0-0, and just kind of taking that pressure off yourself if you did end up picking some of that up throughout the course of the season.

But getting back to our basics and playing our basketball. Throughout the course of the year you're always game planning for someone else and you only get a day or two to really work on yourselves. But having those two weeks that we had to really work on ourselves, focusing and really having fun with it has really been the message for the postseason.

Q. Last year there were some issues with the NCAA not giving you guys adequate facilities. Has this year been different? If so, how?

DANIELLE RAUCH: I think I can speak on just this little March Madness logo right here. Seeing this has been crazy, just to see that we have -- it's just March Madness now, it's not the women's tournament. I think that's definitely a start and definitely really great to see.

Just thinking about that and thinking about even that small step and the way that people are talking about our tournament. I was walking down the street the other day in Ann Arbor and a group of guys was talking, Guys, there are women's brackets out right now. And I'm like, yeah. Good. People know.

So just keeping that in mind that we're building a little bit more traction and a little bit more respect.

Q. Obviously you guys all went through this last year in terms of playing in the tournament. What kind of comfort does that give you going into this year, having experienced it last year, and have any of those maybe jitters that you might have first experienced in the tournament are not there?

LEIGHA BROWN: Yeah, I think obviously being able to have that experience like we did last year and having some of the success that we did definitely gives us confidence coming into this tournament. Maybe even if people on the outside don't believe what we can do, our belief on the inside is there. We think we can beat anyone in the country.

Yeah, just having that belief and having that experience and being able to play with Baylor last year and beating them this year so far. Yeah, just having the confidence that we can beat the top teams in the country, it's definitely huge to have that experience.

Q. With you guys' success against ranked opponents this year, what does that do for your confidence level and how can you use that heading into the NCAA Tournament?

NAZ HILLMON: Yeah, I think that's just a testament how well we can play. And kind of what D said, remembering some of the great games we had throughout the season, not forgetting about that. I think that's a confidence booster for ourselves to remember the outcomes of a lot of those games and how well we played as a complete team when we were at our best. Just a big thing of confidence at that point, remembering those games.

Q. What is the message you guys are giving to the underclassmen, Laila Phelia in particular, as she had a really good season for a freshman, and what are you telling her that can make her have a big impact in March Madness?

LEIGHA BROWN: I think something that I've tried to be able to preach to Laila throughout the whole second half of the season is just have fun with it. I think a lot of people have seen the success she's had, especially the Iowa game was kind of her coming out game. I think just her having that confidence in herself and just the belief that we all have in her and the coaching staff has in her. Yeah, trying to take her under our wing and instill confidence.

And I think she's played really well so far, and excited to see how well she plays in this tournament for sure.

NAZ HILLMON: I think another big thing is just remembering what got you here, staying in the gym, staying focused, being able to be coached and that's all the things that she's continued to do. But that's for everybody at this point. Like I said, it's a new season. Things are a little bit different. It's win or go home, so just remembering the things that you did to get to this point.

Q. I'm curious about you guys' experiences hosting the first round. I know games haven't started yet, but how that differs from traveling to San Antonio or traveling to Louisville or Baylor, comparing those so far.

DANIELLE RAUCH: Yeah, I think it's been really nice to be able to stay in Ann Arbor. Not adding that extra travel definitely is nice. Like we said about playing in Crisler again, we had a great crowd the entire year. I think that'll certainly play to our advantage. It's just comfortable. We know what's going on in Ann Arbor here, we know what Crisler is like. So just having that to our advantage, not having to go somewhere, have a time change and all that.

It's been nice to kind of stay home for a little while.

NAZ HILLMON: It's funny at the same time because there's a lot of changes kind of going around in Crisler, whether it's like posters and stuff going on. But I think it alleviates a little bit of the stress for people like Danielle because she doesn't like to fly, so if she can have a few more games with less stress, I'm sure that's beneficial for her.

Q. Give me the first word to describe your emotions when you saw your name pop up on the screen this time as a host.

KIM BARNES ARICO: Well, first, it really took a long time. So even though we felt like we were going to get in and we were going to have a chance to host, you're kind of holding your breath, and like, all right, could we have been called in the first bracket so we could have celebrated a little bit quicker?

But I just think -- and I've talked to you a lot about this -- the sign of a great program is one that can be consistent year in and year out, and when our name popped up as a host, I thought that meant we have taken tremendous strides in getting to where we want to be. And the opportunity for us to be in Ann Arbor, especially with the way our fan base has kind of rallied around us this year and the support that has continued to grow is just tremendous for our entire program, but the community, for the University of Michigan and for women's basketball in the state of Michigan.

Q. What have you guys seen on film from American's defense? In their last 14 games they were holding opponents to 53 points which was eighth best in the nation and I think goes around their player Jade Edwards who almost leads in every category, points, rebounds, steals, you name it. What have you seen from maybe Jade and maybe American's defense in particular?

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, they really are a great team. I think all the teams that are still playing as of today are really great programs.

As you saw by watching the NCAA Tournament yesterday, anything can happen. You saw a 15 seed beating a 2 seed on the men's side. It can certainly happen on the women's side. So a lot of great basketball teams, and American is certainly one of them.

Yeah, they hold opponents to low scoring. They really play from the inside out. They try to protect the paint. They throw a lot of numbers in the paint, which we face a lot during the course of the season anyway because of Naz.

So I think it is something that we will be accustomed to. I think pace is going to be really important tomorrow because we don't want to really play that pace.

When I think about American, similar to Indiana in terms of Indiana really tries to defend that way, really tries to protect the paint, really tries to keep the scoring low.

When we prepare for opponents outside of our conference, we think, okay, who are they similar to, who can we compare them to? And I would think from a defensive perspective, similar to an Indiana-type team.

Q. When you're coaching you try to build a chemistry and get a chemistry. When you lose a player, you have to kind of reestablish a new chemistry. When you get a player that's been out that's back, you kind of have to reestablish chemistry. Having said that, having Leigha start to be back, what's it been like in terms of reestablishing good chemistry going forward?

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, I think that's really a great question, and I don't know if people on the outside really kind of recognize that or see that on a daily basis.

I think the thing that I'm pretty fortunate with is that I have such tremendous women in our program that really are able to adjust. And we always talk about the things that happened with COVID and being able to pivot and being able to handle adversity and being able to handle when you don't know what tomorrow is going to bring.

If there's anything the last couple years have taught us, it's kind of that.

This year has been that for us. We have had so many different starting lineups, whether that was illness, whether that was injury, whether that was COVID. We've had to adjust, and we've had to pivot through the course of the year.

When we lost Leigha for the last month, different people had to take on other roles. And then she was kind of back and then she's not 100 percent and then she kind of came back again.

I think we're always adjusting, but I think we have such great kids that they're just so welcoming and so embracing to change. I think that's probably this generation because they've had to face so much of it that our team has really handled that. And they're excited when she's there, we're on top of the world, but when she's not there, we know that we still can go on and be successful.

I think part of that, too, is that she has done such a tremendous job of being, okay, I'm not out on the court but I'm going to be right here and I'm going to be a great teammate from the sideline. She talked about Laila a little bit, but she's taken Laila under her wing and so has Naz. And what greater role models to have for a freshman than those two. She gets a different perspective from each one.

But when Leigha is not out there on the court, she's taking Laila under her wing and trying to help our team be a better team.

It has been an adjustment period, but I think our team has done a really good job of it.

Q. I wanted your thoughts on what you think the biggest strength of your team is.

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, it's funny, I don't know if you guys had an opportunity to read that article. Was it the Players Tribune this week that came out with Naz? But holy cow, I mean, even thinking about it, I was like, wow. Because she just captured everything that our program stands for and the culture of our program in that piece. Just to hear it from someone on the inside, other than me preaching it, but to hear how our kids truly feel and what they truly believe is really special.

They believe that they have intangible things that no one else has, and they believe that they play harder than anyone else, and they believe that their toughness and their grit and their fire is greater than anyone else and that they can rebound with anyone and they can compete with anyone.

I think it's easy for me to sit up here and say that sometimes, but when you have the players in your program that truly believe that and the belief that they can count on each other. Naz is a special, special player and a special young woman, but there are other pieces, and I think that they believe in each other and they believe that they can count on each other and create something special together.

With that, if you talk to X's and O's, I know that's kind of an intangible thing, but we have a great inside outside game. When you have a presence like you do, Naz inside that draws so much attention and then the ability of players on the outside to make plays to counter that, I think that's pretty special.

I think our rebounding ability is one of the top in the country. I think when Leigha is going and Laila is going and then you have Maddie being able to shoot the ball the way that she can and then the way that Emily complements Naz is absolutely incredible. And then you add the toughness and the edge of Danielle Rauch and the never quit of Danielle Rauch into that mix, it creates a pretty special group.

Q. They asked the players what's different about hosting, and they obviously haven't really experienced it yet. You haven't, either, but you've been on the other side in many tournaments where you are on another team's floor. What are you most looking forward to about not being on somebody else's floor in these first two games of the tournament?

KIM BARNES ARICO: Yeah, you've been with me for a few of these, but I go through my head, and last year was obviously different because we were in the bubble. That's the only real memory.

They have one other because the year before the NCAA Tournament was canceled. Last year they were on a neutral -- their freshman year was -- Leigha wasn't with us, but Danielle and Naz, their freshman year we were at Louisville, and the year prior to that we were at Baylor. Ugh, that's all I can say.

I would always say after the game, man, I wish we had them on a neutral court. Man, I wish we had them on a neutral court. Because when in Louisville 15,000 people got going when it was a tight game, it was a major difference. Same at Baylor, we were in the tight game in the second half and then Baylor made a couple plays and their fans got behind them.

I'm hoping for the same kind of environment here this weekend starting obviously tomorrow being the most important day. You've got to get past one before you can even think about the next. But I'm hoping that that environment will be created here because I know being on the other side of it was extremely, extremely difficult to play.

And when I think about our season this year and the Iowa game at home, the Indiana game at home, the Maryland game at home, and two of those games Leigha didn't even play, and we were successful in those games.

Yeah, it was our team for sure, but it was our crowd and it was our fans and it was an opportunity to be playing at Crisler and protecting the block M.

It's definitely been a difference for us this season. I don't think our players really appreciate it.

I have vivid memories of all those times we were on somebody else's home court for sure.