NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - SACRED HEART VS STANFORD

March 16, 2023

Jessica Mannetti

Maples Pavilion

Sacred Heart Pioneers

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to today's press conference for the Sacred Heart University Pioneers Head Coach Jessica Mannetti.

We'll now take questions for Coach Mannetti.

Q. Couple of your gals were just up here and they said you did remind them that 16 seeds -- congrats first on the program's first win. Yes. What a whirlwind the last probably 12, 14 hours.

JESSICA MANNETTI: Yeah.

Q. You reminded the women once you got back to work this morning that a 16 seed has won against a No. 1 seed before. It was 25 years ago right here. Stanford losing to Harvard.

What was that conversation like? Ny'Ceara just said, why not Sacred Heart?

JESSICA MANNETTI: Yeah, so the players, when they were told about the upset they were like, wow, really? That was this team that was here? I said, yeah.

And fun fact: Allison just told me that Trish Brown, who's the head coach at Stonehill in our league, was a member of the Harvard team that upset Stanford at that time.

So fun NEC connection.

But I think they're excited about the opportunity to have a David versus Goliath moment. You know, why not us? We've been proving people wrong the entire season. That's been every piece of our motivation in terms of saying, hey, nobody picked us, preseason sixth. We were 2-9 coming into the conference season. Like nobody expected anything from us.

We had all these freshmen, lost four of five of our top scorers from the year before, and they have really been motivated to prove ever wrong. Up until last night, until NCAA March Madness women's basketball did a poll that didn't have us picked to win.

So that was fuel to propel to us come out and just keep improving everybody wrong. It's great opportunity. Wouldn't that be a story to tell one day? You know, I mean, going to be tough 40 minutes to play great basketball against an unbelievable team. I mean, they're so talented and so good.

But what a story that would be. (Smiling.)

Q. I believe you grew up watching the Connecticut teams and are a Connecticut fan. What do you remember about Stanford from afar and from the other side of the country as women's basketball fan, player, coach, over the years?

JESSICA MANNETTI: Wow, so I was doing the scout this morning and I said to one of my coaches, can you believe we're pulling up our little fast scout for Stanford? Oh, my, gosh. This is amazing.

They're historic. They're a perennial powerhouse women's basketball program. They've had -- Coach Tara VanDerveer has had a storied career. She's an amazing pioneer for women's basketball.

And they have huge expectations for their program, right, year and year out, lots of pressure. They've performed year after year to bring home national Championships, compete at the highest level.

As a fan I've always been more exposed to teams like UConn and Tennessee, teams on our side of the country a little bit more because they were publicized a little bit more.

Nut man, you talk about Stanford and you think powerhouse in women's basketball, historic powerhouse.

So I have so much respect for this program and what they've done and achieved and what the staff has done for women's basketball, how they've carried it forward with their players and the program.

It's incredible to be here and be a part of that story.

Q. How do you think you match up with Stanford? What areas are you looking at and where do you feel like you can sneak in an advantage?

JESSICA MANNETTI: That's a great question. We looked at some areas this morning. I think they have a lot of mismatches they can expose on our end. Obviously this is the biggest team we've ever played against. Their post play is dynamite. They have really talented guards. They run a very, very disciplined system with a lot of reads and cuts and different ways they maximize their strengths.

I think for us tempo will always be a really big part of what we do well. We are best and most efficient offense is transition. If we're able to really rebound, rebounding will be a big piece of our success tomorrow. Really disrupt and force tough shots.

If we're able to rebound and run and get out in tempo, I think we'll feel confident knowing, hey, we're playing the game we want to play. But if they slow us down and we're not able to rebound and we are giving two and three second-chance opportunities, I think they'll really maximize that deficiency that we'll have with that size.

So I'm hoping and I think our players watched film today. We have to be really look locked in. They're going to challenge us for every possession of the 40 minutes and force us to play great basketball.

Q. Two questions for you. You guys were able to do a lot of sagging off and kind of pack it inside against Southern and dare them to shoot from three, which they didn't really do. The Stanford team has been playing a lot inside recently, but still have a couple, in Hannah Jump in particular, who are pretty darn quality from outside.

JESSICA MANNETTI: Yeah.

Q. Is that kind of the balancing act? We know we need help inside, but there are a few players out there that we really can't let get open looks from three?

JESSICA MANNETTI: Yeah, we were fortunate enough last night to be able to play more of a sagging, switching defensive approach just because we knew how to minimize some of the ways they wanted to get downhill into the paint.

Stanford's offense is so different. Their players are so different. It is certainly going to be a different approach. We're going to have to double the post. We are going to have to send two to really help and be smart about who we double off and who we're giving shots to.

But they're great players and they're going to make big plays and have big moments. Just going to give our best effort and see how it goes.

Q. And within that, in the last 16 whatever many hours, what messages meant the most to you to receive in the aftermath of the win last night?

JESSICA MANNETTI: It's so overwhelming to handle the amount of texts and social media that we've received. It's such a great feeling, and you want to respond to everybody. You have like hundreds of texts.

Some of the most meaningful texts have come from where I was given an opportunity. So the coaching staff that gave me an opportunity to have my first AAU program. My high school athletic director, my high school basketball coach, obviously my mother who has been the biggest fan, and my sisters who have been the big support system you could ask for.

Those people that remind you where it all started are so special. Athletic directors from other schools that I worked for. My high school volleyball coach who I remain very close to to this day. Moments like that where you get to come full circle and say, oh, my gosh, all these people believed in me. All these people gave me these great opportunities, and now look at where you are.

You don't get here without them. You don't get here without a group of people that believe in you. As a coach, you hope to touch people's lives like that because of the people that touched yours. So those are the ones I'm most thankful for.

Q. I believe your mother was with you at the NEC championship.

JESSICA MANNETTI: Uh-huh.

Q. Did she make it out this way for the game as well?

JESSICA MANNETTI: No. She wasn't able to come, but she's here in spirit. She's texted and called and is so excited, so. I wish she was here.

Q. One thing that's interesting is your team just played in the tournament, conference tournament, and then you fly out here, play an extra game. So you might be tired, but you're right in to the swing and kind of full steam. Stanford, they've had a long rest. They had the tournament the week before; they were eliminated earlier. They haven't played a game in a long time. What do you think the balance is? How do you take advantage of the positive side of that versus the negative of just being tired?

JESSICA MANNETTI: That's a great point. They're tired. March 3rd was our last league game, and then we right into playoffs three days later. It was game, practice, practice, game, practice, practice, game, championship.

We fly here. Practice, practice, tournament game, and then off today, tomorrow. They're tired, but they're so excited. I think this adrenaline, energy that they get not only from that experience and opportunity but from each other is what really has been able to get them to this next -- like even last night. We were tired after the first quarter.

We were gassed and I was like, oh, my gosh. I hope we have enough legs. But I think the experience, the part of this holistic experience where we're really appreciating that opportunity, really playing for each other, celebrating these moments, I think that gives us that energy to really be able to survive.

The survive-advance is real. It's a real feeling right now for us, and they're doing such is an amazing job to just find balance in that physically and mentally.

Q. Before the game last night, or at all this week, have you talked to Tara? If so, what was that conversation like?

JESSICA MANNETTI: Oh, she's a graceful. She came out last night before the game to welcome us to Stanford. Checked in, made sure everything was going well, congratulated us on a great season, wished us the best moving forward.

She's incredible. She has been such a role model for somebody like me who has done so much for the game. To watch her pioneer our sport and just bring it to this place is a amazing.

So to get to talk to her last night was special. My players were all excited about it. Coach, you got to talk to Tara. So it was great. She was wonderful.

Q. Who is one player in Stanford or one matchup that might keep you up tonight stressed?

JESSICA MANNETTI: Oh, all of them. You just want me to pick one? Every single one of them. They have weapons everywhere on the floor and coming off the bench. It's like all of them. Trust me.

I think their post play is the piece for me that we have to be really diligent about and disciplined about with how we game plan for it.

But they're so talented and they belong here. They're here for a reason. You know, there is not one of them you can really not game plan for.

THE MODERATOR: Any more questions for Coach Mannetti? Thank you, coach, good luck tomorrow.

JESSICA MANNETTI: Thank you.