NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL 4 SEMIFINAL - COLORADO VS IOWA

March 23, 2023

JR Payne

Aaronette Vonleh

Frida Formann

Climate Pledge Arena

Colorado Buffaloes

Sweet 16 Pregame Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll go ahead and get started. If you would like to make an opening statement and then we'll take some questions.

JR PAYNE: Yeah, just excited to be here. I think our team's worked really hard to earn the right to be in a position where we can be in a regional, play great team like Iowa, and we're just very, very excited to be here and get going.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll take some questions.

Q. I think you were just starting as assistant coach the last time Colorado made the Sweet 16. I think you were at Gonzaga with Kelly, if I remember correctly. What does it mean to be write history for this program? I don't know if any of the players were more than two or three years old last time that happened. What does it mean to be here and have a chance to get this program back to where it was 20 years ago?

JR PAYNE: It means everything. We've been really fortunate, Toriano and myself, to have been able to take over a couple of programs that were struggling and be able to build them into a high-caliber team, and we were really excited for the opportunity to do that at Colorado.

We have such a storied tradition of success, you know, when Ceal Barry was our coach and many Sweet 16s, several Elite 8s, and things like that. So we knew that the potential was here, although it had been a long time since we had been on this stage. But we believed in our ability to recruit the right type of players that could thrive at Colorado and it's been definitely a challenge in seven years to recruit and work and grind and it's just been a long road. But we knew that the potential was there, so we're incredibly proud to have been able to build it into this type of team.

Q. I read a story where you said the first time that you recruited Aaronette over Zoom, she said maybe three words. What has it been like for you to watch her transformation from then until now?

JR PAYNE: Incredible. Truly the greatest gift in being a coach is watching these young women develop as young women. I always say the basketball's just the fun part. But being able to see Aaronette blossom and thrive -- you know, on the court certainly we can all see that, but to see her grow in just a confident young woman that can do anything has been truly awesome. I always say, I think her best basketball is still ahead of her.

Q. When you're talking about the path and the effort it took to get the program back to this kind of level, what about this group that you have specifically allowed you guys to break through and return to something like the Sweet 16?

JR PAYNE: Yeah, I think -- Jaylyn Sherrod is our senior point guard and she is sort of -- I think most of her life sort of had this mindset of will over skill. It's just in her DNA. I think as a group it's in our DNA. I think we just ultimately have a ton of belief in ourselves, in each other, in what we're capable of being on -- when people don't believe in us, we believe even more in ourselves and things like that.

So part of it is that, that mindset. I think the other part of it is just we have a really unselfish group. Truly no one cares who gets the glory, who gets to take the last shot, who comes up with the big rebound, and I think when you have a group that is willing to work and you have a group that doesn't really care who gets the glory, I think you can do really great things.

Q. The first few years you were here Ceal was working in the athletic department. She's retired now, but she's not around as much. But what kind of impact did she have on you as a newer coach at Colorado and kind of helping you get comfortable with Boulder and CU?

JR PAYNE: Yeah, Ceal had a huge impact, almost as big an impact as anyone at the University of Colorado, especially when we first arrived. She did a really great job of balancing, I'm here to help, I'm here to support, I want you to be great, but I also don't want to step on anybody's toes and sort of getting in your way. So she's phenomenal. She's one of the first people that texted me when we beat Duke and saying how great we played and she watches every game and things like that.

So Ceal did a nice job of helping me to really understand our history. I could read the stats and read the record books, but she helped us understand who we were when we were great. Fortunately, that kind of lined up with who I wanted to be, really tough, really gritty, and things like that. So I still appreciate Ceal as a wonderful mentor and supporter.

Q. (No audio) -- what she has meant to your program? Her postgame interview was really emotional the other night when you guys reached the Sweet 16. Can you expound on what she's meant to the program and how fulfilling you think it is for her to be in this spot?

JR PAYNE: Yeah. I don't think I heard the first part of your question, but I get the gist of it, what has Jaylyn meant to the program.

Jay came to Colorado -- as she told everyone, we were only Power 5 offer -- she had other offers, but her only Power 5 offer and she wanted to go somewhere and not just be a good player, not just play a lot of minutes, but she wanted to go somewhere and help establish a culture of excellence.

And for anyone that knows Jaylyn, that is who she is, whether that's in the classroom, on the court, as a teammate, in the community. She's helped us establish a culture of toughness, of fearlessness, of overcoming any obstacle that's put in your path. I mean, she's everything you could want in a player. She works hard. She's an avid listener, avid learner, and really wants to be great. She's willing to do anything. So I think she's -- yeah, she's put her heart and soul into this program for four years and truly has helped us get to where we are today.

Q. On the topic of mentorship that you mentioned, who else are some of the other mentors that you look at in this moment or as you reflect on your journey that helped you get here and have some of those people reached out, what has these past couple days been like in the prep?

JR PAYNE: Yeah, well, definitely Ceal, as we talked about. Two people that have had a big impact on my coaching are Gordy Presnell at Boise State, who was the head coach when T and I were both assistants for him. And then Kelly Graves is like my second dad. We talk every single week. He helped me understand very early that you can be a great coach as well as a great mom as well as a great mentor and leader. As a young woman in the profession, you want to be a wife, you want to be a mother, you know, and I think he established that early.

He also helped me remember that no matter how high the stakes are, this is supposed to be fun, to have joy and to laugh. And we play music in practice and we laugh and we tease each other, and I think he's helped me through that. When things are hard, he's the one I talk to. When things are great, he's also the one I talk to. So definitely Kelly Graves would be someone that I have leaned on for a lot of things in my coaching career.

Q. When it comes to scouting Iowa, is there anything that's surprised you the deeper you've gone into their film?

JR PAYNE: No, not really. Ironically, we played Iowa my first year at Colorado in the Sweet 16 of the NIT, at their place, and they've always been a team that I've greatly admired. They're a team that when I'm looking for something, oh, we need a new -- I don't know, zone attack or zone defense, whatever, they're someone that I would pull their film because I've always greatly admired what they run, how they run it. Sort of the nature of their ball club is really disciplined, really organized, very efficient. So nothing new, but it's always a great challenge to play a team like that.

Q. You guys were at Iowa City last year and probably presumed you would play Iowa. Is that scouting report of any use at all since Iowa's lineup really hasn't changed at all?

JR PAYNE: Yeah, I definitely think they're a similar team. They're just a more experienced version of who they were last year, and they were really good last year as well. So, yeah, I think it's always great to be able to rely on past information. We do pour a ton of effort into our scouting reports. We feel like if there's just one or two little things that we could glean from watching one more game or one more round of defense or things like that, we try to be pretty intense in our scouting. So definitely we've re-looked at those scouts, we've re-watched film, and then of course have a new scout for this year as well.

Q. Two part question: Just what was this week like for you? I mean, you guys played in Durham on Monday night and then now you're here a few days later, and I think you went home first. The other part is just, there's been a lot made of upsets in this tournament, in this bracket. Three of the four lower seeds are here. But you guys are a Power 5 school, you're not like a Cinderella. You've played some really good teams in the PAC 12 that are good. So playing in Iowa I would think is not shell shock, so to speak?

JR PAYNE: Yeah, well, this week has definitely been a whirlwind. We played such a late game. I think we tipped off at 9 p.m. in Durham. We were up really late, of course, that night and then flew back the next day. It was maybe about 24 hours later we were already back on the plane to come West.

So for me, I was doing laundry, trying to help kids with homework, getting my children organized, and things like that. The team had a day off where they could kind of rest and recover for at least 12 of those hours, and then film and practice and we're just kind of back at it again.

To the question of playing in Iowa or being a PAC 12 school, I think our conference top to bottom does an incredible job of preparing us for a quick turnaround against a really good team. We saw that when we played Middle Tennessee, who I thought was such a great team, and then the very next day had to be prepared emotionally, mentally, physically for a great team like Duke. We see that in the PAC 12 a lot. When you play an Oregon, then you got to play an Oregon State or Cal Stanford, whoever it might be.

So this kind of feels the same. It's a quick turnaround from a really great team in Duke to a really great team in Iowa. A different style, of course, but again, I think our conference prepares us for that.

Q. Since you said that when others don't believe in your team, you guys believe in yourself even more. Just curious if that mindset has been specifically really strong as you guys go into a game against Iowa where maybe the outside world might think, you know, Iowa's going to do X, Y, Z, but you guys probably believe in yourselves. How has that played out so far?

JR PAYNE: Honestly, I think we could play anyone and we would feel that way, just because it's so in our DNA to just really focus on what we need to do to be successful. We do that in our pre-season training. We do it throughout our pre-season games. We're really big on identifying our roles, how can I help us be successful, and kind of lock into those. We revisit those throughout the year.

So, yes, definitely, as we prepare for a great team like Iowa, but I honestly think we would have the exact same sort of conversations and mindset no matter who we were playing.

Q. To your note about having fun, you guys just got here landed, settled in. Is there anything that you're hoping that you can enjoy about Seattle or that your team is able to see or do other than win some games?

JR PAYNE: I don't know. I think our main focus is to focus on basketball and winning games. My dad and my step mom live in Seattle, so I'm going to get to see them a little bit. Quaya Miller on our team is from Seattle, so that's going to be really awesome for her to be able to spend time with her family here. I think she's most excited to see her dog who lives here. But, yeah, I mean, it's just, we love Seattle. We play in Seattle every year when we come to UW. So I think we're all pretty comfortable here. But definitely more focused on basketball than anything.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Coach, thank you. We'll have a couple players up here momentarily. Thank you.

(Pause.)

THE MODERATOR: All right. We're joined by the student-athletes from the Colorado. We'll start with an opening statement from the student-athletes.

FRIDA FORMANN: Not much to say. I'm just happy to be here. So thank you all for coming.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Questions, please.

Q. For both of you, what has this week been like because I think you were in Durham Monday night late, winning that game. Coach said you didn't have much time back in Colorado and now you're here. What has the week been like for you two?

FRIDA FORMANN: It's been fun. Of course winning is fun, but it's definitely been a lot of traveling and just trying to figure out what the schedule is. But when it's this time of the year and these games and, I mean, you can manage having a couple flights and not so much down time.

AARONETTE VONLEH: Yeah, I mean, it was definitely just a quick turnaround. We got home Tuesday morning and we're gone the next afternoon. So it was just go home, do laundry, pack your suitcase, and leave kind thing. So it's definitely a lot, especially with school and everything, trying to make sure you're getting your assignments done. But it's just an exciting time, so we're just making it work.

Q. Frida, obviously growing up in Denmark, I know you watched college basketball, but how big of a deal was the NCAA tournament and Sweet 16 and Final Four? Were those things that you actually dreamed of when you were over there?

FRIDA FORMANN: Oh, yeah, for sure. I watched everything. My dad got like ESPN Player so I could watch it. Yeah, it's always been a dream of mine to be part of it. I think when you leave your country to go play over here, you don't really know what's going to happen and how it's going to end up. You just kind of take a chance on a program. I'm just really happy to be here with this program today.

Q. Coach was saying that y'all have this mindset of will over skill and Jaylyn in particular embodies that. Curious how you all feel like that's become the DNA of your team, if that's something that was with the program before you got here, has it developed over time, and how that applies also to facing a team like Iowa.

FRIDA FORMANN: Okay. Yeah, I think that what this program is built on is just getting players who really want to work hard. Coach always tells us we don't get the No. 1 recruits or whatever and we don't need that either because we have that mentality of will over skill and we're going to work hard and we're going to stay together, and I think that's very, very valuable. Basketball's a team sport, so you need to build a great team, and I think that's what we've done.

AARONETTE VONLEH: I was just going to say, yeah, this being my first year here, like I quickly learned that that is their identity. Just like our whole team works so hard that if you aren't working as hard as people around you, you're going to get left behind. So they kind of just raise the bar and make everybody better.

Q. For both the players, what are the keys do you think to stopping Iowa's attack? They score a ton of points. What are the things you guys have to do? And what is sort of your base defense? I know you played both against Duke.

FRIDA FORMANN: I think we've just talked a lot about our identity as being aggressive on defense, being disruptive. So whatever way we can do that against Iowa. We've talked about it already. But yeah, always being aggressive, being disruptive, that's what we do on defense.

AARONETTE VONLEH: Yeah, just like Frida said, we do pride ourselves on defense and that's a big focus point for us. We just have to be locked in on personnel, make players do things that they're not comfortable doing, and just be disruptive in general.

Q. Is there any benefit -- you haven't played in this arena, necessarily, but Seattle is a familiar stop for you in the PAC 12. Does that help you at all with this trip?

AARONETTE VONLEH: I think anywhere we go we're going to be ready to play, but it is nice to be in Seattle just because, like you guys know, Quay is from here, so she's going to have a lot of family here. I'm from Portland, which is not too far. So it's definitely easier for us to get supporters out here, but anywhere we go it's going to be the same thing.

Q. Are the two of you getting into an activate Sweet 16 mode or anything like that? Are you treating this game tomorrow differently or is this like any other, same playlist, same mindset, all of that?

FRIDA FORMANN: I would say both, kind of. It's just a basketball game, so you have to prepare the same way you would, but of course the stakes are a little bit higher than the regular season game. We all know that it's win or go home, so you have to treat it like that and really lock in and you just have extra focus and extra urgency, I think, in games like these.

AARONETTE VONLEH: Yeah, I would say the preparation's definitely the same, but -- I don't know, we just had like such high energy over this past week, like the practices, everybody's super locked in because I think we're all just so excited to have this opportunity in front of us, we want to take advantage of it.

Q. For both of you, can you talk about what Jaylyn Sherrod means to this team on the court and off?

FRIDA FORMANN: Yeah, Jaylyn is, I would say, just the heart of our team. She works super hard, as you can tell. She's just always chasing down loose balls, always playing with super high energy. She is one of those players that can really make you want to go the extra mile. So I think that that's what she means to this program. She makes us all work hard. She always holds us accountable if we're not. So, yeah, she's just keeps it at a really high standard.

AARONETTE VONLEH: Yeah, Jaylyn is one of the hardest workers. She's also like the leader of our team on and off the court. She just brings a ton of energy and passion to the game. Like, she wants to win so badly. I think that we're able to feed off of that and kind of just like match that level of intensity and it helps all of us.

Q. I know you guys weren't on campus long, but was there a buzz when you got back from advancing to the Sweet 16? And the second half is just, there isn't in the past 20 years that much history for Colorado women's basketball before that they were under Coach Barry, really successful making Sweet 16s and Elite 8s. Are you guys aware of the history of Colorado and how you've now made your own by reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2003?

FRIDA FORMANN: I mean, we were received really well when we came back with the bus to the arena. We were all tired, but it was great to see people there cheering for us. Every time I've e-mailed my professors, they always are really excited e-mailing me back. And, yeah, I think there's definitely a buzz around women's basketball right now and it's really nice to see because it's been a long while of not really -- just building the program after Ceal Barry stopped coaching. So, yeah, it's really exciting to be back in this place for everyone.

AARONETTE VONLEH: Yeah, I didn't know much about the history until recently, just like seeing things in articles and on Twitter about how it's been since I think 2003 since they made it to the Sweet 16, which is like crazy to think about because I probably wasn't even born yet. So it's just cool to be a part of history being rewritten in a way.

Q. You were a senior recruit, you were signed with Arizona when they made their Final Four or their championship game run two years ago. Did you get a chance to go to any of those games and experience them in person?

AARONETTE VONLEH: I didn't, but I definitely was watching all of them on TV. It was just so cool to see them go that far and knowing that I was going to be part of a championship program the next year. It was during COVID, so it was a little tough to get out there, but, yeah, I was able to watch it.

Q. How weird is it that you're in the Sweet 16, but not with Arizona? I mean, two years ago I would imagine you didn't think you would be here with somebody other than Arizona?

AARONETTE VONLEH: Yeah, I mean, it's definitely a little weird just thinking about it. But I am so grateful that I chose to come here and how it's worked out and that we're in a really good position and I was able to contribute to that.

THE MODERATOR: Is there an X factor with this particular team? You've got the talent, you've got depth, you've got experience, you've been in big games. Is there an intangible that has helped this team get this far?

FRIDA FORMANN: I just think that we're a team that has really good chemistry and as we've said, our identity is just, I mean, we're never going to wilt, we're never going to back down from anything. So I think that's our X factor, just having no fear and just going out there and playing hard.

Q. A lot is made of you guys playing an upset over Duke, but you play in a really good conference, you've beaten some really good teams. Does that help you playing in the PAC 12 that you're playing a PAC 12 team that's another Power 5 that I'm sure you've played players close to the level of Caitlin and teams as good as Iowa in your on conference?

AARONETTE VONLEH: I would say the PAC 12 is just, like, I think it's the best conference, because there's no drop off. There's no day off. Every team is so good and has such a high level of talent. So you're constantly playing against great players, great teams, great competition. I think that really helps us prepare for the post-season. Because we're not just stepping into March, like on our heels, like surprised when we play against good competition. We prepared all season for this.

FRIDA FORMANN: Yeah, I would say the same. Every game we've gone into here in March Madness has just been like it's nothing we haven't seen before. I think we've really used that to just have some confidence going into it saying that we have seen really good defense that we saw from Duke and from other teams in the PAC 12. And the offense Iowa has, we have seen that too in the PAC 12. So there's nothing new to us in that way.

THE MODERATOR: All right, ladies. Thank you very much.