NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL 2 SEMIFINAL - MIAMI (FL) VS VILLANOVA

March 23, 2023

Katie Meier

Haley Cavinder

Destiny Harden

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Miami Hurricanes

Sweet 16 Pregame Media Conference

KATIE MEIER: Well, thank the city of Greenville and the sports commission, whoever decided to take on this Herculean task. I think it's great. It adds a lot of excitement to it. It's just fun just even walking the hallways and seeing all the logos and seeing how many teams are here together. I think it's going to be great for women's basketball, so I'm excited about that.

Secondly, just really, really focused, really got my team where I want them. We're playing the best we've played all year. I think it's very fortunate to play in such a tough conference, so when you have very little time to prep, you have one day to flip around -- I had not watched Indiana at all. I had one day to prep for them.

But you could go back to a competitive memory of well, this is how we guarded Carolina or this is how we guarded Duke or this is what we did against Louisville. You have all these Virginia Tech No. 1s. You have it in your head, your players are ready to shift and they can reference that competitive memory and execute.

And it's been a quite turnaround for Villanova, as well. They're an awesome team. If I had a week, it would just be a week I didn't sleep, so might as well just be a couple days because they're very good and they require a lot.

Q. With defending Siegrist, what's your thoughts when you watch them on film and see stats? The numbers are incredible.

KATIE MEIER: They are. They are. I had the fortune of coaching Stewie, Breanna Stewart, for two summers, USA Basketball. We won two gold medals together. She's extremely talented. There's a lot of similarities there. A lot.

I think the biggest similarity is you can defend her perfectly, you can be physical, you can deny the ball, whatever, but in the end, she's going to calmly catch a ball and be able to race up and shoot over you, and there's a not a heck of a lot you can do about that.

That's, I think -- she's an amazing player, and some of her games this year have been astounding. I mean, you just can't believe what you're watching. I've watched as many of them as I possibly could while still keeping my team in the zone that we're in now.

Luckily, we are a team that has several -- more than several, many -- a lot of defensive schemes, and we've played them against top teams the whole year. They don't know which one we're going to pick, and that'll be kind of the dance within the game there is how are we going to defend her and the rest of their great players.

Q. I'm sure you've seen the video by now. What was your reaction to Destiny's viral moment the other night?

KATIE MEIER: Oh, the one that my mom and her mom aren't proud of? Yeah.

Listen, God, if you know Des, she is so respectful. She comes from an amazing family. She was repeating something someone said. It's not like it was her quote. But I was on the radio with -- the fun radio show in Miami, and I was like, well, it's not our fault we didn't bleep it. What else can you say? It happened. It was a late game. It was late, so hopefully there weren't a lot of young eyes on it. But it is kind of raw and that is kind of Des, and it was the truth.

Q. Miami is kind of a tough town to break through and kind of carve a niche for yourself. How have you guys done kind of making an imprint on the city and gaining a following down there?

KATIE MEIER: Yeah, I think if you start with that as your goal, your program is going to go a little askew. That's not been our goal. I think we've been honorable. We've been hardworking. We've been extremely consistent, and that is so hard. And it's even harder now to be consistent. The 20-win seasons, the top half of the ACC.

Boy, you can climb a ladder one step at a time. You can't get to the top in one step, but you can sure get to the bottom on one misstep, and I don't think you've seen us do that. In that kind of growth, there's a mad respect for what we've done.

Then it's an awesome city, a vibrant city with tons of opportunity. And when we want to be noticed, they notice us. But it is a big city. There's a lot of sporting entertainment options. We have a loyal group of fans and some of them are with us on this trip that are coming. And we lost one of our dearest fans this year, Joan Clancy, and I keep thinking of her as we're marching through this tournament. Because the ones that have been there from day and they were down there when we were at the bottom, those are the ones that mean the most to me.

Q. Villanova is second in the country with turnovers. During the film you've watched --

KATIE MEIER: Second most?

Q. Second least.

KATIE MEIER: I'm kidding. I know that stat. But I'll go tell my team they're second most.

Q. Is there any weaknesses you can see with the film you've watched so far to maybe exploit them, may allow them to turn over the ball a little more than they have through the season?

KATIE MEIER: I'm a little bit more than to veteran that question. I'm not going to answer that one. We're going to try.

Q. I was in Greensboro last March when Destiny had her --

KATIE MEIER: Oh, you were.

Q. -- (inaudible) against Louisville. That's the second time she's had kind of a huge March moment in the span of a year. What does it take or how does she pull that off? I guess is it the mentality she has that allows her to be successful in those types of moments?

KATIE MEIER: Yeah, actually the same exact play, same spot, different spot, but same exact call.

She's got these big eyes. She just has them, and they're big as saucers, and when she's really locked in, they just get bigger and bigger and there's just this immense amount of trust between Destiny and our staff. Destiny is never going to let you down.

I was shocked she missed the two free throws because as a young person, as a teenager, I've known her for a pretty long time, as an adult. She is reliable, dependable, honorable and she doesn't let anyone down ever. That's who you go to in that moment right there, and when she's told to do it, she'll do it. That is Destiny Harden. Wonderful young person, and I'm just blessed to have her on my team.

Q. I don't know if you saw that diversity story that Rich Lapchick's group did about still most women's teams are still coached by men. Here I think everybody -- I think you're all female coaches here --

KATIE MEIER: Is that true?

Q. I believe that's true, yeah, here.

KATIE MEIER: Wow, that's cool.

Q. What do you think about the -- do you have an opinion on whether men should be coaching women? Do you think there should be more of a balance? How do you see that?

KATIE MEIER: Yeah, I don't -- I guess there's an emotional reaction to the fact that they're all women here, which I'm happy about. I think that's because I want opportunities for women in everything I do. My whole platform in life has been about that.

But if a great opportunity exists in a male coaching situation, I'm happy for the women that are coached by a man, too. I really am. I just want opportunities for women. I want these young people to grow and have every opportunity. It's not about the coaches at this point, it's about the players, and I just love that my players are getting this opportunity.

It's promises and dreams and things that you wish for them, and now we're here.

Q. First Sweet 16 appearance for you; what does that mean to you to get past those first two games, close ones, but you got through them? What does it mean to get to the regional now and maybe get further?

KATIE MEIER: Yeah, I reflect later. Like I really do. I just don't have a lot of, oh, my gosh, I know how I feel right now. I absolutely will reflect on this, but I have a mission for this group of players and this staff and this university, and I'm moving forward with it.

Q. What is it like -- Miami hadn't gotten here to the Sweet 16 before. What is it like for you guys to be here, and is it about -- can you tune out the pressure and try and move forward?

DESTINY HARDEN: Yeah, it's amazing to be here. It's a blessing to be here. Never been in this situation before. Never been in this stage before.

I think the most important thing is to soak it all in with myself and my teammates, take advantage of this opportunity. Just try to just go as far as we can and continue to make history.

HALEY CAVINDER: Yeah, I think just being present, kind of like Des said. Obviously being part of this team and getting to the Sweet 16 is our first time, so just being present. I don't think there's a lot of added pressure just because we are an underdog. We're a 9 seed. Coach always says we have nothing to lose, so just taking it all in and enjoying these moments.

Q. Destiny, is there a point where you don't feel like the underdogs anymore, though? You just beat a No. 1 seed on their home court. Or does that underdog mentality kind of serve you guys really well because you've had to play with it?

DESTINY HARDEN: No, we're always going to be the underdogs like Haley said. We're the 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament right now and going against a No. 4 seed. We're just going to continue to play with a chip on our shoulder.

There's no pressure for us. Nobody expected us to win any games, so just to come out and play Miami basketball and continue to feed off each other, that would be enough for us.

Q. Haley, I think I've heard you say this year that one of the reasons you came to Miami was to play in March. How fulfilling is it to get to this stage?

HALEY CAVINDER: Yeah, it's really special. I think I would never envision myself to be in this moment, so I'm just trying to take it all in.

Yeah, this is why we came here, to play and to be able to be a part of history for Miami is something really special. This is what everyone dreams about as a basketball player. Just being present.

Q. Destiny, I'm curious if you heard much from people regarding your viral moment of your interview the other night.

DESTINY HARDEN: I mean, everybody has comments on it, but that's just something that I slipped up on. But it won't happen again.

Q. Destiny, you had a couple of game-winning shots earlier this year. What is it about those moments that allow you to shine for your team and pull out a win for you guys?

DESTINY HARDEN: Just being able to actually execute a play that we go through all the time in practice. We done that play twice in games, but maybe a thousand times in practice. So it's a very comfortable shot, a comfortable play for all of us. Everybody knows their role in that play and everybody accepts their role in that play, and everybody has confidence with the play that Coach called on to score the basket.

So I think that's why we succeed as a team is just knowing each other's role and feeding off each other and being able to accept what the coach is drawing up and execute.

Q. There was a diversity study out yesterday; it says most women's teams are still coached by men. Here all the teams are coached by women. I'm sure during your careers, you've been coached by men and women. Do you guys have a preference about who you'd like coaching you? Does it matter all that much as long as they're a talented person who knows what they're doing?

HALEY CAVINDER: I'm all for representation, so obviously females representing females, I think it's really good for our younger generation.

I don't really have a preference, but I think that that's a win. That's a win for women in sports. I'm all for it.

DESTINY HARDEN: I think Haley hit it right on the nose.

Q. Maddy Siegrist is the leading scorer in the country by a point and a half. What have you done to prepare for her?

HALEY CAVINDER: Yeah, she's really, really a good basketball player. I think that going forward we're just going to do what Miami does best, just rely on our defense and let it all play out.

Q. Haley, you and your sister have obviously been one of the faces of NIL. What have you learned from that experience, and what has been maybe been some of the challenges that have come along with it?

HALEY CAVINDER: Yeah, I think that NIL changed my life, so I've definitely been able to just learn to capitalize off of it and position myself to be able to be successful in the future. Yeah, so I'm really for NIL and college athletes.

I think there's challenges within it because I think there's a lot of people that make you one-dimensional. You have to be an influencer, you have to be a basketball player. But I think you can be both.

I think just being able to keep the opinions of others that don't really know me on the back burner and just rely on my people in my circle and my teammates has allowed me to be successful.

Q. Miami is a big place with a big brand. What's it been like having success down there and feeling some of the love that maybe some other teams get down there?

DESTINY HARDEN: I think that a lot of people think that when they bring up Miami basketball there's a lot of other things to do in Miami as far as distractions. But being a student-athlete, we know we've just got to take care of business and keep your priorities first. And that's basketball, and we've come here to win games and play basketball, so that's the biggest thing.

HALEY CAVINDER: Yeah, I think obviously Miami has a lot of things to do, but both of our teams have been so successful this year. Like we're a basketball school. We both have been really good in the postseason. So I think that we've felt the love from Miami and being able to have both is a great thing, too.