NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL FINAL - CREIGHTON VS SOUTH CAROLINA

March 26, 2022

Jim Flanery

Emma Ronsiek

Carly Bachelor

Lauren Jensen

Payton Brotzki

Tatum Rembao

Greensboro Coliseum

Creighton Bluejays

Elite 8 Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We welcome the Creighton Blue Jays. It is my pleasure to introduce Creighton student athletes. We have Tatum Rembao, Payton Brotzki, Lauren Jensen, Carly Bachelor, and Emma Ronsiek.

Q. Tatum, I'm curious about deciding to come back for this fifth year and what it meant to you. And for everyone else, what does Tatum's leadership and experience bring to this team?

TATUM REMBAO: It was an easy decision to come back. Obviously last year was pretty difficult for a lot of different people, and I struggled with injuries back-to-back-to-back.

So I decided early on to come back. All the credit to my be strength coach and our athletic trainer. They really put me through it this last summer just making sure that my body was as healthy as it could be.

Q. Tatum, you guys kind of run people into each other a lot. Like Morgan did that -- I'm guessing Morgan is right behind me. Like Morgan did yesterday. Is that a conscious effort to get defenders to run into each other and use the screens?

TATUM REMBAO: Yes and no. It's part of our offense. The motion, we have a lot of freedom, like I said yesterday. And Morgan, Lauren, Emma, they're going to have types of players that are going to hug them, so back cutting happens to be their best option sometimes.

Q. I read that someone jumped in the stands after the win. I don't know if it was one of you guys or if they're in this room. If it was one of you guys, just the decision to do that? What you saw from that?

EMMA RONSIEK: I think that was Rachael Saunders, right there. (Laughter.) I don't know what was going through her head when she did that.

Q. Payton, how do you see this match-up? Do you see it as an insurmountable hill, or is what you have done already enough proof that you guys deserve to be here and can play with anybody?

PAYTON BROTZKI: I think what we have done already proves that we can be here. It's obviously a tough task, but I think we can trust in our preparation, our coaching, and just the faith and confidence we have in each other to be ready for this game tomorrow.

Q. Lauren, obviously a lot of us are just kind of getting to know the stories of all of you because you're in the national spotlight. I know you transferred. What was it about Creighton that made you choose to come here? And if anyone else wants to share what made them choose this school and this program, I'm very curious.

LAUREN JENSEN: Yeah, coming out of high school they recruited me, and I had a good relationship with the coaches. I played with Mallory Break, who is also from Minnesota, and Temi Carda from last year played at my high school.

So I was familiar with the program. I felt comfortable. I knew the culture was great and I liked the style of offense, so it seemed like the right fit.

EMMA RONSIEK: I just knew this was a school for me when I was being recruited in high school. I was recruited by some of the local schools in South Dakota, but I knew I wanted to get away and this was the perfect fit for me.

CARLY BACHELOR: I think the chemistry, all the teams that Creighton have is so special and it carries over year-to-year. I think this year how far we have come is a testament to how close we are and just the amazing teammates and people and friends that I will have for life that make basketball fun, but also are so great off the court as well.

PAYTON BROTZKI: I chose Creighton because it's 20 minutes from my hometown, so obviously knew I wanted to stay close to home. It was ultimately the people that brought me there.

College basketball is crazy being recruited for all this time, so I got to meet a lot of people and see a lot of different places, but the people at Creighton were what ultimately drew me there in making my decision.

TATUM REMBAO: Just echoing what everyone else said: The community and the people. Just the fan base that Creighton draws really is the reason why I chose Creighton.

Q. I don't think South Carolina is going to come out here with their whole team. It seems like you guys are together and have talked about that. I wondered if you had any specific stories that you could give us to illustrate how together this team is.

PAYTON BROTZKI: I think something -- this is not really basketball related, but we have a trip planned in May to Florida, and literally the whole roster is going, the whole entire team.

That's something we planned probably two months ago, so it's been in the works. It just shows that we really do enjoy being around each other on the court and off the court and I think that contributes to our success.

TATUM REMBAO: Just the story of them wanting to come in here. There was three of four of them and they were like, oh, can we go watch this press conference? And the five of us were like, oh my gosh, what is this going to entail?

It really just goes to show that we love being around each other and love supporting each other.

Q. Tatum and Payton, as the veterans up there, what is it about this team in particular, whether it's chemistry, the way you guys have come together, that is different from the other teams you've been on that have allowed you to get to this not point?

TATUM REMBAO: It's the youth and it's the energy. Every single day everyone comes to practice with such a smile on their face and just ready to get after it. It makes it a lot easier for us seniors to come to practice and be excited about coming to practice every day as well.

PAYTON BROTZKI: I think we have a really good balance of young talent and then also older and wise leadership. Our three leading scorers are sophomores, which is kind of crazy. You don't see that every single day.

But I think it comes with the bond that we have with those girls and the trust that he have with them to make plays when it's needed, and then just using me Tatum's and even Carly's leadership and experience that we have had throughout our three and four years in this program. Really helps a lot.

Q. For Tatum and Emma. I'm wondering if the energy, the dynamic, if anything changes at this point, because the first three wins in the tournament you advanced to the next round. Now we're talking about going to the Final Four. Does it feel different at this moment?

TATUM REMBAO: I would say no, it doesn't feel any different. I know for me personally, the next game could always be my last game, and I'm not ready for the last game to be my last game.

EMMA RONSIEK: Yeah, I mean, it's all a surreal feeling that we have made it this far and we have had this belief in ourselves the whole season.

We knew we could prove to everyone that this is where we belong, and we don't want the season to be over for the seniors especially because we have had such a great season. We don't want to be done hanging out with each other and this team, so we want to go as long as we can.

Q. Yesterday your coach said you guys play a little bit different than everyone. How would you describe your playing style? How do you think it benefits you in this tournament?

CARLY BACHELOR: Well, first off, you look at a lot of teams and there is usually someone above 6'2" or 6'3", and clearly we don't have that. We're probably averaging around 5'8" height between all of us. I think that's pretty unique of teams that have made it this far.

But I also think that's a strength of ours, being able to be so -- such a five-out team and not having to rely on size and just everybody being able to shoot and cut and score. I think it makes our motion offense so fluid and makes it easier for us to all get involved.

Q. When you look at Aliyah Boston, what is the most challenging thing about her when you look at how you're going to defend her?

EMMA RONSIEK: Definitely her size and her strength, and obviously being -- shooting such a high percentage from the field. She is just a big body, and it's going to be a challenge for us, because we are -- like Carly said, we're a little undersized in the center category, I would say.

But we just gotta believe in each other and just tackle it.

CARLY BACHELOR: Aliyah Boston is a phenomenal player. There is not much more to be said about that. Obviously she is super talented and has gotten her team to this point.

I think the biggest thing for us is just limiting offensive rebounds and trying to pack the paint as well as we can and keep her off the boards.

Q. Echoing on the themes that we have touched on for Emma and Tatum, you guys are different than most teams in the tournament left. You don't have a superstar leading the team every single night and scoring. You are a true team. How does that dynamic work when you know on any given night there can be somebody different stepping up to lead the way?

TATUM REMBAO: I think it makes it difficult for teams to scout us, because obviously when you have a team that has one or two dynamic scorers you're going to put your best defenders on them.

So when you have a team like us where there can being four or five different scorers, it's harder to pick and choose who you are going to put your best defenders on.

EMMA RONSIEK: It's hard to guard us when you don't know who is going to be the go-to girl that night. Obviously Morgan had a great game yesterday, and it's not like Iowa State didn't know she wasn't a great shooter and a great player, but they just can't have enough defenders to guard everyone on our team.

So I think that's hard to scout.

Q. The game ended late, it was a quick turn-around. What does that look like? What has been the response? Has it sunk in? Were you able to sleep any?

LAUREN JENSEN: It's definitely a late night, just that excitement of making it to the Elite Eight. It was definitely hard to fall asleep last night and there is excitement there being less than twelve hours removed from the game.

But I think we're locked in and ready to move on to South Carolina.

CARLY BACHELOR: Nothing that a little melatonin won't fix.

EMMA RONSIEK: Yep, melatonin. (Laughter.)

Q. This year it always comes up about the make-up for women's basketball teams. You have a great thing going with Coach Flanery. Does it make a difference for a man or a woman coaching a team?

TATUM REMBAO: Flan is amazing. He's really good at the X's and O's and our assistants are really good at the communication. They're younger so they're able to relate to us a little more. I think that balance is really good for us to be able to trust in Flan and also trust in our assistant coaches.

PAYTON BROTZKI: Echoing on the balance that we have on our coaching staff. Flan says they don't come to me is what he says when we have problems, they go to our assistant coaches, the women on our team that we can relate to that have been in our position more recently.

But Flan is by far the smartest basketball coach I have ever played for. The way we scout, the way we put our time into the opponents that we are playing, it's all him. I think that is why we're able to win the games that we have won.

LAUREN JENSEN: Yeah, I don't think it really makes much of a difference, kind of like Payton and Tatum said. There is just a lot of balance on the coaching staff.

Flan is a great leader and he knows what he's doing basketballwise. He knows a lot and he's super wise.

CARLY BACHELOR: Not to sound like a broken record, but I think that there is a good balance between Flan and then our younger assistant women coaches. My entire basketball career I've mostly been coached by men as coaches so I don't know much different, but I think that having our assistant coaches, just knowing that they're in the same position as we were and just having that wisdom about them and experience makes it all the more able to come to them about anything and just talk about basketball or life.

EMMA RONSIEK: Yeah, I don't think it really matters when you have a coaching staff like ours. Obviously everyone has so much respect for Flan and what he's done, and he knows what he's doing and he knows what he's talking about and he's gotten us this far.

And then we have a good friendship, relationship with other coaches, and we respect them on and off the court. They're our friends off the court, but they know how to do their jobs when we are on the court.

So that's why we have a lot of respect for them.

Q. You guys have a big game tomorrow. Can you take us a little bit through what's going to go through your mind, what your morning preparation will look like, how you are going to center yourselves?

EMMA RONSIEK: Yeah, I think it's just a matter of we can't get too high or too low. Obviously this is going to be a tall task, and South Carolina is obviously a really good team. They're a talented team, well coached.

We have to stay within ourselves and believe that we can do it.

CARLY BACHELOR: Yeah, I mean, at this point every team that we're playing is really good. It's just the seeding that's different. So I think just trying to keep that mind-set of we made it this far. Why not us?

LAUREN JENSEN: I feel like we've done a good job so far of staying within us and not trying to let the outside noise or the pressure of the big games get to us and play our game. I feel like that will be key for us tomorrow.

PAYTON BROTZKI: I think our past two games have been good experiences leading up to these games. We have never played in front of a 15,000 sold-out crowd until we played at Iowa and then the atmosphere last night. I think that will take our momentum into the game tomorrow, and we will be ready.

TATUM REMBAO: I think the preparation for tomorrow morning is staying loose and having confidence in ourselves but also preparing ourselves and knowing that we deserve to be in that game.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you all very much and we will see you tomorrow. Welcome Coach. We are going to roll right into our questions for Creighton head coach, Jim Flanery.

COACH FLANERY: Well, it was a late night. My kids went to bed at 1:45 at the earliest. It's hard to come down from what we've been able to experience the last eight or nine days. I hope our players got a good night's sleep.

And we won't do much today. Maybe a glorified shootaround, get some shots up and a little bit of a walk-through. We know what the challenge -- we think we know what the challenge is for tomorrow night.

We're playing a team that's really, really good defensively and rebounds the heck out of the ball. We've got to do everything we can to make it as competitive from a rebounding standpoint as we can.

That doesn't mean we're going to be even on the glass, but I can tell you from watching them play live in the first game and then coming back out during warm-ups of our game with Iowa State, the contrast between the size of Iowa State's and Creighton's post players and the size of South Carolina's post players was pretty dramatic.

Just seeing that obviously makes that really important. We're going to take some risks and do some things defensively that we wouldn't normally do against teams or have to defend differently because of the size and the rebounding that we have.

But I think we're unconventional enough offensively to create some issues for them. We can invert and have our bigs go out to the three-point line, and hopefully that creates issues for them and opens up the lane to be able to score some points in the paint.

Because, yeah, we're going to have to make some three's to be successful, but we can't just shoot three's. Certainly it's a contrast in styles. It's a monumental task, but we're looking forward to it.

Q. Jim, do you have any connections with Dawn? You have been coaching a similar amount of time. Did you follow how she built the program here?

COACH FLANERY: You know, I really don't have much of a connection. I mean, I followed her since she got in at Temple and the job she has done -- she did a really good job at Temple, and how quickly she built the program at South Carolina from a competitive standpoint and from an interest standpoint.

They kind of ascended -- it's one thing to get good and then later have the kind of interest in the program that they have had. My view from afar is that she built it kind of simultaneously, which I think is a credit to her.

Because I think she -- again, my view from afar is that she kind of gets the whole picture. She is not just a coach or a recruiter or whatever. She gets the -- how does putting, you know, 15,000 people in the building help us? How does that help us recruit? She has done the whole thing.

I know she is really good in the community, and she is one of the most prominent voices in our sport, which is a reflection of what she's built.

Q. Congrats Coach on getting here. Your whole team was in this press conference five minutes ago. We always talk about chemistry. I think we separate it from the chess match of basketball. I was wondering how those two things interact and how the chemistry of this team has helped you prepare for games.

COACH FLANERY: I think that's the magic, right? If we knew exactly what kind of fraction of success is related to chemistry versus X's and O's and skills, all that stuff, we would patent that formula.

I do think our chemistry and the joy that our team plays with and the way that they care about each other plays into -- has played into our success this year.

I always struggle with cause and effect. Are we playing with joy because we're playing well or are we playing well because we're playing with joy? There is obviously room for both, to assign cause and effect to both of those.

But I have had a lot of people comment on how much fun we seem to have when we play, and I think that's been part of our success and why we're here.

Q. Flan, curious about the process of playing two games in three days. Obviously you had a ton of success last weekend; you have this day in between games. How do you manage your time compared to how you manage the team's time and trying to put yourself into the best position tomorrow night?

COACH FLANERY: That's a good question, because I do feel like it's -- it's a physical exhaustion that you're going to have coming out of a game that doesn't get over until close to midnight.

But I think the mental exhaustion of the last, like I said, eight or nine days, too, you've got to be careful not to put too much on their plate today and tomorrow. I'm glad the game is a little later.

I usually like games that are earlier because I don't like to sit around all day, but I think in this case it's a good thing for us that it's a later game based on how late we were there last night.

So we won't do a lot of live stuff today, I mean, looking at how much we went through, and I know our players are going to ice bath and need the time to do that and spend some time with their family tonight.

I think you kind of -- at this time it's more the mental. So we will watch a little bit more film, because we have very little time really, or don't want to put the energy into the physical prep, so it's just a little bit more film and making sure that we have a pretty tight game plan put together.

Q. Two-part question. First, I'm wondering whether it means more as an alum to be here on this historic run for your school? Related to that, I'm wondering how you made the decision to get on the women's side and start coaching women's basketball essentially right after your playing days were done?

COACH FLANERY: Your generous calling my playing days, playing days. (Laughter.) Let me tell you a quick story. I have a son who is 12, and when we were about 6 we were at the playground and he was playing with a kid who was about his age.

As 6 year olds do, they kind of brag about their relatives, and so this other kid was bragging about his dad. My son Jackson was like, well, my dad wasn't very good in high school or college but he's really good now, and I was like 50. (Laughter.)

I think now that he's a little older he has a better sense that his dad is not that good now. The first part about -- I don't know any different. I've been at Creighton pretty much forever. Sometimes you struggle to answer that question, because I don't really know what it would be like to coach somewhere other than where I went to school.

I can tell you it means a lot. On the days where it's maybe a little bit more of a struggle it's easier to be invested because it is your Alma Mater, so I think that's maybe how I would answer that.

You let things slide maybe a little bit more that could be irritating because you just -- you have a belief that where you are is the right place to be, and it's the right place -- or it's a great place for young women to have the opportunity to play basketball and grow up.

I got into the women's game -- this is, again -- I was on the college golf team at Creighton, so my college golf coach my last two years was Bruce Rasmussen, who was at that time the women's basketball coach, and that was my ticket in.

I kind of -- I didn't know that I would coach. I kinda wanted to go to law school. I was weird and majored in philosophy and so was kind of tracking toward that.

I just couldn't pull the trigger. I volunteered for Bruce right out of college, and because of my relationship with him, that's how I got into the women's game. Was that both of your questions? Okay, thanks.

Q. You've been head coach now for 20 years. I was wondering, did you think you were going to get here to the Elite Eight? Was this a bucket list item for you? Was this something you would have felt disappointed if you had never gotten here? And what does it mean to get here with this group?

COACH FLANERY: Yeah, I think first of all, our entry into the Big East helped elevate our program and our potential. I think the resources -- we were becoming more resourced as we got late into the days in the Missouri Valley, and I think that's why as an institution we were attractive to the Big East.

But I think it's elevate our recruiting and our ability to train. We have a practice facility now that's much better and we have an on-campus arena that makes more sense for our sport than what we were playing in.

So there has been some headway made that probably made me think this was more achievable and not to give Kirsten, our volleyball coach, too much credit, but she has set a really high bar.

I've officed next to Kirsten. She has been our volleyball coach for 19 years and she has won like ten straight Big East Championships and been to -- - I guess we've only been to nine, so nine.

She is a dreamer, and I think her dream of what is achievable has played with me to some degree and helped me maybe feel like the bar should and can be higher. Like I said with the Big East helping us recruit a little bit better player that's been part of it.

Then you've got to be lucky, right? You've got to win a game that maybe you're not supposed to win, or more than one.

With this team I'm not surprised as I look back, but when we started the year I knew we were pretty sophomore heavy in terms of where our scoring and our production was going to come from. I knew we would be good, but I wasn't quite sure it would be this soon.

Q. When you look at Aliyah Boston, what's the biggest challenge when it comes to preparing how you're going to defend her?

COACH FLANERY: Well, we have to limit her second-chance points and her ability to control the game on the offensive glass. That's the biggest thing. We're going to have to gang rebound. We will not -- in the huddle I will be talking about whether we're doing a good job of having five people on the defensive glass or whether we are not.

If we are, we still may not be successful because she is that big and strong and good around the basket, and we're going to have to cheat some off their perimeter players to help on to her and give some post-to-post help.

I mean, we can't guard her one-on-one and we can't rebound one-on-one against her. We've got to rotate our posts so that they are fresh enough. There are two types of conditioning, running up and down and getting tired running up and down, and then there is just leaning against somebody who is bigger and stronger than you, and that takes a lot out of you, too.

So we can't be playing our posts when they're tired and can't defend in a way that's even worse than when they're fresh. Those are some challenges. She is a good free throw shooter. We can't give her and-one's. I mean, if she has a layup we can't give her three. We've just got to give her two. A lot of challenges.

The other thing is we've got to make her work on the other end. She is going to have to go out and guard on the perimeter at some point, and I think that can be a way to drive down her efficiency.

I look at Czinano in our Iowa game. She missed her last three shots. She had to guard our motion offense for three and a half quarters. One of our philosophies is if we have elite posts we're playing against, we want to try to wear them down on our offensive end.

Q. Jim, this time of year the topic always comes up about men coaching women, whether more women should be coaching women. I know it's your life's work and you're pretty successful at it. Where do you stand on those who say maybe there should be more women, or do you believe you're teaching women to become future basketball coaches?

COACH FLANERY: I think it's hard, because it does seem like if I answer in the way that I maybe feel that I'm being self-serving. I will tell you this: My kids are in elementary school and they're taught by women, and I consider teaching a leadership position. I don't have any problem with them being taught by women.

My kids haven't had -- through elementary school didn't have one male teacher other than music or PE.

I think that's somewhat relevant.

Yeah, I mean, we need to do everything we can to have women coach women, but I think there's -- I applaud the people who have added women to men's coaching staffs. You know, one of the players in our league, Georgetown, Milan Bolden-Morris was just hired by Jim Harbaugh to coach quarterbacks, and I think that's awesome.

I think we're headed down that road. Not nearly as quickly as it needs to happen, but you have seen NFL staffs add females and NBA staffs adding females.

So hopefully that's getting to be the norm and we don't have to talk so much about men coaching women.

Q. Flan, the girls seem like they're having so much fun. You guys as a team seem like it. Why is it important to have fun during that time, especially when it comes to tournament time, and how much importance from a standpoint does that translate to the play on the court?

COACH FLANERY: I've been described as an Irishman with a temper, or a bit of a temper, and I'm not always great about the way I display it.

But we do talk a lot about joy, and I try to get them to understand that that's a big part of being successful and that's why you do it, right? We kind of say, don't kick the joy out of it; keep it in there.

At some point when you are a kid and you "play" okay, it's play. Then all we talk about is well, you gotta work at it. It's work, and it's work, and it's -- and then to me the best thing that you can have is that synthesis of viewing it as both play and work.

Again, if all you focus on is the work and not the play -- and that's why I think our style of play is we let them play. That third quarter I don't know that I called -- really the second half we didn't call almost anything from the bench.

So we're trusting them a lot. I asked them a couple times, hey, what did you want to do on that action that Iowa State is running? What do you guys want to do? I have my ideas, but what do you want to do? I try to empower them because I think that's helpful, too, in creating that.

Q. With the chemistry and the way it manifests on the floor, one area that stands out is your assists game, number one assisted shot rate in the country. What do you think is behind that, and what do you think makes it hard to defend?

COACH FLANERY: Yeah, first of all we have shot makers. You can have a lot of people who can throw good passes but if the ball doesn't go in after the good pass, you don't get an assist for it. I think our kids do spend a lot of time in the gym, and then I think there is a trust. I think Tatum has kind of generated that sort of mentality, too, because she is a pass-first point guard, and I know she scored the ball last night but that was a little bit of an atypical game for her. We move well without the ball.

I think that's important. And Tatum talked about last night after the game that our motion doesn't necessarily look good in June or September or October. It takes a while, especially if you are a younger player. But I do feel like it gives us a chance, especially as the year goes and we become harder to scout.

Because there aren't necessarily, you know, cookie cutter plays that we're running. It's more random action. So I think it's harder to scout; therefore, it's harder for defense sometimes to take that away. So if you are a good passing team, you know, those numbers show up with assists. I think we are -- I think we shoot it well, but I think we're unselfish, too.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. See you tomorrow.