NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - BELMONT VS OREGON

March 18, 2022

Bart Brooks

Conley Chinn

Jamilyn Kinney

Belmont Bruins

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Belmont. We'll take an opening statement from coach.

BART BROOKS: It's great to be here. I'm thrilled that our team gets a chance to compete in this tournament. It's the best tournament that exists, in my opinion. Absolutely the best time of year to be preparing for basketball. We get to prepare for a really difficult, tough opponent tomorrow. We're blessed that we still get a chance to compete and represent an unbelievable university in Belmont.

I'm really proud of these two young ladies sitting next to me. This is their fourth and third NCAA tournaments. That's quite an accomplishment, to be able to compete in that many in a career.

Really, really excited to be here. We understand the task in front of us is a large one, but we're ready to compete and represent our program well.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Last year you had a 12-5 upset. How does that help you prepare this year? Does it give you the edge that you know you can play with everybody?

CONLEY CHINN: Yes, I definitely think it gives us that edge. Being able to know that it can be done already gives us so much confidence. With everybody returning this year, we've been excited to get to this point. This is what we've been working for all season.

Coach Bart put in a non-conference schedule that are going to prepare us for days like tomorrow. We are more than confident. We're excited to play together and show the world what Belmont can do.

JAMILYN KINNEY: Kind of going off what Conley said, this experience, we're blessed to be here, ready to compete on this big stage. Last year prepared us for that. Coming in, we have this edge, energy, focus that we've been talking about all season. We want to show that on the court.

Q. Coming off the tournament championship win and the defensive effort in that game, the idea to try to build on that, or knowing Oregon can score, what's the focus?

JAMILYN KINNEY: We know Oregon is a really good team, well-coached. This week we've obviously been focusing more on us personally, how we're going to play. The tournament kind of showed we're playing our best basketball right now. That's what you want to be doing. We've been emphasizing bringing the energy, the effort, competing on both ends of the floor. I think that's going to help us make a little bit of a run in this tournament.

CONLEY CHINN: You know what they say, defense wins championships. I think we proved that two weeks ago. Having the knowledge that we were able to do that, we were able to come together for 40 minutes, put some stops together and win some basketball games. I think that's what we're taking into tomorrow, is just we can't take a rep off. This is such a talented team we're playing tomorrow. It's going to take 100% of the effort, 100% of the game.

Q. You're kind of riding high. You've won 12 straight games in a row. Talk about bringing that energy and momentum into this game and carrying it through. You mentioned playing tough road games. You're playing on a neutral court against another good team you battled on the road. Talk about the different atmosphere.

CONLEY CHINN: Every game has a life of its own. What better time to play your best than tomorrow? I think knowing this is the NCAA tournament, this is what we dream of, getting to play against a team like Oregon, which is a team you hear about ever since you were a little girl. It's a blessing. I think all of us understand that it's an incredible opportunity. We get to play basketball tomorrow against a really good team in a great arena. It's going to be an awesome opportunity.

JAMILYN KINNEY: To touch on that non-conference schedule, Bart has prepared us for this moment. Playing bigger schools on the road, it's a few hours from our hometown. It's going to be an interesting atmosphere and we're excited to be able to compete.

Q. You faced some really good competition. Their size is not something you're used to seeing in your league. Is there anybody you would compare in terms of stature and size?

CONLEY CHINN: I think at the beginning of the season we prepared for Shakira Austin, who is one of the best players in the nation. It's not a one-on-one game against Belmont. We work on being there for your teammate. If they're stuck on the block alone with a 6'8" player, you're going to go help. Guarding a shooter on the perimeter.

I think Shakira Austin was definitely someone that reminds me of Oregon. Throughout the year there's always post players we have to prepare for specifically. I think we're more than capable of doing it. It's just a matter of not making it a one-on-one game.

Q. Earlier Kelly Graves was very complimentary of your team, said he liked your style. What does it mean to you to have a coach like that say that about your program?

JAMILYN KINNEY: I think it shows just the hard work and the determination that our team has. It's awesome to hear from a coach like that, someone you've grown up watching, a team you've grown up watching. Very blessed to hear that.

CONLEY CHINN: Yeah, I would love to take all the credit for that. The women that came before us in this program, Betty Wiseman, she's a part of what this program is about, Sally McKay, Jenny Roy and others are the women that came before us and made Belmont what it is today, put our name on the map. We're blessed and we love being able to say we can carry on the tradition they did.

It means a lot from a coach like him to say that about us. That's what we want to be, we want to be a team that people respect, know you're going to get their toughest game.

Q. You've got a lot of experience, been to some NCAA tournaments before. Have you noticed anything yet that's different, improved from previous tournaments? If so, what might that be?

JAMILYN KINNEY: Yeah, I think the biggest thing right now everyone is talking about is the (indiscernible) between the men's and women's tournament. We got to witness some of that going on last year with the tournament in San Antonio.

I think it's taken a huge step this year, just being able to be shown nationally on TV, just the coverage that women's sports is getting right now. I think they're trying to continue to build, continue to grow in the next step of women's sports.

CONLEY CHINN: Yeah, I would go off of what J.J. is saying. Just the growth of the women's game, the coverage it's getting by the media, acknowledging the incredible strength and spirit of the women in the game today, like what they're capable of.

I think it's been great to see that grow over the past couple of years, be able to be in the mix of it as it's going on.

Q. What did you learn over the course of this week about Oregon? I'm guessing most of your perception was shaped from what they used to be with Sabrina. This program now is nothing like what they were.

CONLEY CHINN: Honestly, if they're at Oregon, there's a reason they're there. It means every single person on that team is talented. Whether or not there's a lot of media coverage on them, they were talented enough to be able to represent that university.

I think we just see it as anyone on that floor can score, so it doesn't matter how much they're tweeted about or posted on Instagram, they can still score a basketball.

I think we've just kind of taken that approach that it's going to take the ability to stop everyone on the floor.

JAMILYN KINNEY: Kind of what Conley said, they're a very competitive, resilient, tough team. Everybody can score from all levels, from your guards to your posts. It's just going to take us being connected defensively, offensively, to try to compete with a team like that. That's what we've been working on all season.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. We'll open it up for questions for Coach Brooks.

Q. What have you been able to pick up on in watching this Oregon team, preparing for them? What are the games most relevant in your scout?

BART BROOKS: I mean, first of all, I think they're really talented. I think when they play well, they're as good as anyone in the country.

When you look at anyone who plays at Stanford for a one-possession game, is in the game at Stanford, and Oregon is good enough to compete for a national championship because that's the level that Stanford is at, that's the level Oregon is when they play well.

They've been up and down this year. A lot of that has to do with injury, COVID disruptions. For us it's been exhausting, one of the most exhausting, hard, difficult seasons I've ever coached. I imagine that's true for a lot of coaches around the country. Sitting in Coach Graves' shoes, he's probably feeling the same way because of all the disruptions they've had.

When there's no common opponents, I think you rely on styles. There are certain teams they play that might play a similar style of offense to what we play, we understand what they're doing to do with spacing, how they're going to guard certain coverages.

Something they do really well is they change things a lot. You're not going to see the same ball screen coverage for four quarters, the same looks defensively that can change their zone looks. They're versatile defensively. They're not going to give us consistent looks.

That's something, we have to play through concepts. It's going to be an adjustment as the game starts, their quickness, size, how we match up with that. We're going to have to adjust and figure out the best way to put our players in position to have success. I don't have an answer for you. I'll find out tomorrow at 5:30.

Q. Last year you got an upset in the bubble. Playing three hours east, do you hope some fans travel, maybe the Tennessee fans root for you guys? Do you hope to draw on some of that tomorrow? What difference might that make?

BART BROOKS: Yes, to every Lady Vol fan out there, we are from Tennessee. We are Tennessee. A lot of us are Tennessee kids. We would love to have that crowd stick around and support us, really support two programs who have put themselves, Oregon, obviously on a national stage. I think we're aspire to put ourselves on a national stage at Belmont.

It's great being in your home state. Every little girl who grows up watching basketball dreams of playing in this arena. If you asked all of our players, they probably would have come here if they could have. The next best thing is you get to come here and play a game.

This is a cool, special venue we get to play in. That's not lost on me. We went to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame this morning. There's a lot of history in this building. Women's basketball has been a huge part of this city and this state for a really long time.

For an NCAA tournament game, after last year's bubble, now we get to be back in the seats, fans at the game watching basketball. I just hope that everyone enjoys, embraces this opportunity to come watch what I think will be two really good, competitive games tomorrow.

Q. You've been in this position before. Being the underdog, is there something like that preparing for a tough matchup, your team being overlooked in the seeding?

BART BROOKS: I love it. We've been the top of our league for a lot of years. It's really difficult to take everyone's best shot every night. People probably don't understand how hard that is, to be consistently good, maybe not have your best stuff, but always get the other team's best stuff and still have to win, still have to figure out how to get it done even when you're not playing as good as you can play.

The script is always flipped when you get to the NCAA tournament because now we're going to be playing against someone who is supposed to win, someone who has a bigger program or whatever the case might be.

I think our team embraces both of those roles. I try to make it a strength no matter which side of the fence we're on. I think all year we've put ourselves in position to play against these kinds of teams. We played five of the top 30 NET ranked teams on the road in our non-conference schedule. We have been in these competitive environments, we know what it's going look like, what it's going to take to be in the game.

Yeah, we definitely have a chip on our shoulder. We believe we can compete at this level. We have to go prove it.

Q. They get eliminated in the Pac-12 team by Utah. Are there things from that particular game that you're able to try and apply to what you do, when Scherr in particular was nursing an ankle in that game, but now she's back? How do you surmise that might impact things?

BART BROOKS: I mean, I think you always look at all the games. Utah is a unique program. I mean, they let that thing fly. It's fun watching them. Wouldn't be fun to play against them, but It's fun watching them.

That was the third time those teams have played. Both of the two games before were competitive and good. It's really difficult to beat good teams three times in a year when the games were like they were. The first two games were really competitive, good games.

There's some things that Utah does that are similar to how we play. The only difference is they've got a transfer from UT Martin that we played against in our conference, Utah does. We played against Dasia Young for a couple years at Belmont. She looked really big when we played against her. When she played against Oregon, she looked really small. That's a difference. We took that away from the Utah film, yeah, they're pretty big.

But, yeah, I think there's things you can take away. Again, injuries and health, you never know what people are going through from the outside looking in.

I think having time off, we're expecting them to have their best stuff, to be rested, to be ready to go, probably have better stuff than they had in that game.

Q. Your perspective on the growth of the parity across the women's game. For you, as a coach at Belmont, how have you seen the parity within the tournament?

BART BROOKS: Yeah, I think it was really unique being in the bubble last year, we were all in the same place, all together. It was a really cool experience. It was awful but it was great at the same time.

I think there's a lot of teams at our level who are able to compete with a lot of teams at the 'next level', the power five leagues.

I tried to put ourselves in position to play a lot of those teams, and we had to play them on the road. People don't understand how difficult that is in college basketball, to play a true road game when you're playing in front of other people's fans, another person's arena. It's different. It's difficult.

The schedule that I put together, the five top three NET ranked teams were true road games. It's really difficult for us to go and knock people off on the road. None of those guys played at home. We didn't play them at home. Next year we're going to get a couple at home.

Now to have a chance to play Oregon on a neutral floor, that is a beautiful thing, I think, for this basketball tournament, that programs like us, I think we're good enough to compete at this level, but to beat someone on their home court is really hard. I don't care what time of year it is, it's a difficult thing to do.

I think being a 12 seed as opposed to a 13 seed was really a big deal for us. I think it's something we earned. I'm thrilled that we're in that position.

But I do think there's a lot of programs that are capable of upsets. I think the neutral floor could be a big part of that.

Q. Anything specifically that has changed, improved from last year in the bubble or past tournaments? You had a fairly short trip to get here from Nashville. Anything else that has been an issue that's easier now?

BART BROOKS: I think first of all everyone here at Knoxville has done a tremendous job of welcoming us. The staff at the hotel has been unbelievably hospitable. Everywhere you go, there's people that are excited we're here. There's women's basketball fans that appreciate what it takes to get to the NCAA tournament.

I feel it might have been like that 10 years ago, five years ago, 15. I don't think that's unique to this year in this city.

I would just say our experience has been great. Especially comparative to last year. One of the most surreal moments of my life was winning that first NCAA tournament game for our program, being on the floor watching our players celebrate, looking at the players throwing kisses to their families. They couldn't give their moms or grandmas a hug. A lot of their moms and grandmas couldn't come.

To be in a more normal environment, celebrate families, because families are a huge part of this, every player has a huge army of people that have supported them to this point. To be able to share this experience with them tomorrow is going to be a huge, huge deal.

I think the NCAA, everyone is working really hard to try to make it better. I do feel like our kids notice it. I notice it. I was watching TNT the other day. They mentioned the women's tournament. That was kind of cool. There's March Madness coming on the women's side, too. To hear those guys talk about the women's game, that's a cool thing. When you're watching your players who have put in unbelievable work and effort to be here in this moment, to have the recognition and to see that that work is recognized and appreciated.

It's not like they're working less than the guys are working. They do it the right way. I'm so proud to coach the young women I get to coach. I think it's moving in the right direction, I really do.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach Brooks, for joining us.

BART BROOKS: Thank you, guys.