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

March 23, 2023

Lisa Bluder

Caitlin Clark

Monika Czinano

Gabbie Marshall

Climate Pledge Arena

Iowa Hawkeyes

Sweet 16 Pregame Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started with questions for coach right after she makes an opening statement.

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, like everybody, we're just thrilled to be still playing basketball this time of the year. I feel like our team is in a really good spot. We got here yesterday. We're healthy. I know some people are wondering about Hannah. We're healthy. We're feeling good.

We know that Colorado is going to be a really tough challenge. Their defense is very, very good. 58 and a half points that they hold people to. So a tremendous defensive team. I just think RJ has done a great job with her team. They were in Iowa City last year for the tournament, the NCAA tournament. I think she's done a tremendous job with her team.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll throw it up for some questions.

Q. What about Colorado's defense really sticks out? What make it's so difficult? And are there any similarities to the defense you faced against Georgia or is it just a completely new way that they go about playing?

LISA BLUDER: It's a different style of defense because they play mostly player where Georgia was all about zone. I think what is so good about it is they just have really good ball pressure, they're very active. I mean, Sherrod is so fast. They have depth off the bench, so they can keep coming at you. I think that's really what makes them very, very good defensively.

Q. I know you mentioned Hannah, but what is the status of Hannah and Molly Davis going into tomorrow?

LISA BLUDER: Both, I feel is close to a hundred percent as you can be this time of year.

Q. Just off topic a little bit. The eight teams that are here, I think Colorado's the closest and they're still 1,300 miles away. We talked a little bit about the two-site deal with the NCAA. Just your thoughts on that, with those numbers?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, I mean, with two sites obviously we're a long ways from Iowa City. I really believe that if this site would have been five hours from Iowa City, we would have 10,000 Hawkeye fans here. And it's just unfortunate that our fans won't be able to support us live. I know they will be watching on television, but there's something special about a real electric arena, with great atmosphere. I think if this was played in the Midwest, we would have had that. I really do.

So that's unfortunate, but at the same time, we're glad we are here. We think Seattle's going to be a great host site. The city seems really nice, our hotel's great, everything's been wonderful. But, yeah, I wish it was closer to home.

Q. You mentioned the ball pressure that Colorado presents on defense. Is there a team that you played this year that's kind of similar to that? I know that you played some pretty good teams that forced a lot of turnovers.

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, I mean, I guess Indiana would be the closest Big Ten school. Not Maryland because they switch all screens. So I would say Indiana would probably be the closest.

Q. Generally in this Sweet 16 right now, you look at it, Angel Reese was a transfer, Alissa Pili, Quay Miller. There's a number of key transfers who subsequently made the Sweet 16. For you personally and then also generally around the sport, how do you look at the transfer portal impacting roster construction for you and then kind of more broadly?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, we didn't use it a lot this year. We did get Molly Davis and we needed Molly because she provides us as a backup 1, 2. So that's an important position for us, and so that was tremendous for us. But, like, we haven't used it like other people maybe have. Will we in the future? I think it is the future of women's basketball and men's basketball. I don't think you can be successful without using it. It's the new brand of basketball and people are going to be hopping from roster to roster. Do I like it personally? Probably not, philosophically, but as far as what it is and you have to buy in.

Q. With Colorado having been at your site last year, can you use any of the pre-game scout that you prepared for Colorado or have they changed too much?

LISA BLUDER: Oh, that's a great question, and absolutely. I mean, we had a complete scout done for them last year and they haven't changed a whole lot. There's a few fresh faces, a few that exited the program as well. But they're very similar style-wise and we absolutely started our report with that.

Q. A lot of opposing coaches have talked about how difficult it's been to game plan Caitlin's passing this year. I'm curious how you as a coaching staff have worked with her on that or is that more just Caitlin-driven?

LISA BLUDER: It's pretty innate. She is a fabulous passer, but has been most of her life. But I think when she came to college, it really opened up even more because she had people that could catch her passes. Sometimes in high school, honestly, they came in so fast, so hard, people weren't expecting them, that they weren't ready for them. AAU was better for her, and USA basketball, of course, was better for her.

But when she came to Iowa, and I think the first time she met Monika and scrimmaged with Monika, it opened up her eyes that I can really have an opportunity to pass the ball like she's capable of, which is incredible.

Q. Two-part question to follow-up on that question before about location. I don't know if Des Moines or anyone in Iowa bid for a regional and that's obviously how teams get regionals. Would you encourage someone in Iowa to probably bid down the road for a regional? And the second question is you've been around for a few years, Colorado has not been in the Sweet 16 since 2003, and I think you were a young coach back then. Do you remember anything about those teams with Ceal from the early 2000s?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, I do. I've known Ceal for a long, long time. I mean, I remember when I was at Drake, and Ceal came to play in a Sweet 16 at Drake University. Shelley Sheetz, she took Shelley Sheetz away from Iowa, who turned out being a -- I think it was Kodak back then, a Kodak All-American, still.

Ceal was a tremendous coach. You know, Linda Lappe from Iowa also played there and then was a coach there. So I absolutely remember the Colorado teams, and I remember them being really tall. I mean, they had some really tall and then obviously good guards, like Shelley Sheetz.

But I would hope that Des Moines would bid for this because -- you look at Iowa, Iowa State, and Drake, three of the four schools from Iowa, the Division I schools, were invited to the NCAA tournament or won. They each won their tournaments. So they were both automatic bids. And how well Iowa State and us draw, it would just make sense that Des Moines should be trying for this.

Now they hosted a site for men this year, but I'm hoping that in the future, that would be really nice thing, I think. I think we would -- I think it would sellout. I really do. I know Pat Summitt was there for the last time I think they hosted. Baylor was there. Tennessee. They had good crowds then.

Q. You have Monika who comes back for a fifth year, and obviously now is having this run that hopefully continues. What does she mean to this program? And where do you think this team this year might be without Monika on the roster?

LISA BLUDER: Oh, Monika's incredibly important to our success. I mean, she's a region All-American, along with Caitlin. She was a finalist for the Lisa Leslie award, top 5 centers in America. I think she's fourth right now in field goal percentage shooting in the country, which is low for her. The last two years she's been No. 1 in the country. Monika is phenomenal, a phenomenal post player. She's so efficient. Her footwork is so good. Her hands are incredible.

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to even think of where we would be, and I'm thankful I didn't have to think about where we would be without her. So that's down the road.

Q. Multiple players on the team have talked this year about how much they watch college basketball, women's college basketball, outside of the game film and things like that. Stanford loses in your region, Duke loses, Texas loses. All had home region games. Is that kind of one thing where the team could possibly -- you know, just weighing what -- potentially looking ahead, like look how much this region has opened up for us or is it more of a lesson of, hey, if we don't bring our best game, this region has had a lot of upsets, so we could be the next one?

LISA BLUDER: I think it's more the latter. I think you're seeing parity in women's basketball right now, and I think that's tremendous for our game and it makes it so much more fun to watch for everyone, maybe even the casual fan, right, not just Iowa Hawkeye fan, not just the South Carolina fan. But the casual fan, I think enjoys it a little bit more when there's more parity in women's basketball.

But when those people go down -- like you say, they were hosting, well, it wasn't that long ago we felt what that's like. So my heart aches for those people. I know exactly what they're going through, and it just shows you where women's basketball is right now. But did we think about it any differently as far as our steps? No. It's the same steps as we were before. Certainly we all watched the Duke-Colorado game the other night. We had a text thread going from our whole group of our players. It's just the next step. The next step is Colorado.

Q. It doesn't help in terms of bringing your fan base any closer, but is it useful that you as a team made a similar trip out to the Northwest for the Phil Knight tournament last fall?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, I think it is. We've talked about destiny a lot in our journey this year. There's been so many things that have been like, yeah, that was part of the plan when we didn't even know it was part of the plan, right?

But certainly coming out here and, again, facing that competition in a pro arena like this, I think gives us good experience.

Q. Going back to the parity thing, how has this evolved? How has women's basketball become more than just Connecticut and everybody else? Is there just a deeper talent pool at the high school level? What has taken place the last 10 or 15 years?

LISA BLUDER: My opinion is that it is a deeper talent pool. I think television exposure has helped. Like, for instance, the Big Ten, with our network, when that came on the scene, it allowed us to be known more outside of just Iowa. So I think the Big Ten network certainly helped us.

But I do think there's just a lot more parity, and I think in the last couple of years with the transfer portal, it has also changed things because of that. So I think those -- that's not 10 or 15 years, but certainly in the last couple years.

Q. Last week you faced a Georgia team that liked to run out, two centers. Colorado kind of does the same thing. What comparisons are there between those two -- or those four, I guess, together? And was it kind of nice to see Georgia last week and then have that same personnel this week?

LISA BLUDER: Yeah, I mean, two games in a row we're going to be facing a double-post offense. Again, destiny helps, right? I mean, it's just a situation of we haven't seen that hardly at all this year, the entire year, and now we're seeing it two games in a row. So I think last week will help prepare us.

I know Quay Miller is a fabulous player, All PAC 12 player. And I don't know, Aaronette, is that how you say it? If somebody from Colorado can help me. I don't know. You know, she is very -- I mean, as a sophomore, her field goal percentage the last five games is almost 70 percent. That's like Monika numbers. That's impressive. That's a very, very impressive thing.

Q. Was there a particular game this year that was kind of served as a spark for this team maybe to come from behind or pulling one out on the road where you weren't necessarily favored to win one that kind of serves as a spark for this group?

LISA BLUDER: You know, I mean, I think we've had a lot of little sparks along the way, but certainly beating Indiana at home in our last game to a sold out arena was really good. So I almost think the spark was actually our Maryland loss rather than a win. So coming off that game, we beat Indiana at home, like I said, in a sold-out arena, and then we go into the Big Ten tournament and play -- we played four top -- in eight days, we played four games and two against top 3 -- no three against top 10 opponents in the country. That's hard to do. I think that really has been good for us.

Q. How was the Maryland lost a spark?

LISA BLUDER: It just kind of -- it didn't bring us back to reality because my team was never cocky or anything like that. But it sure like gave us a focus. It just felt so bad that we didn't want to feel that way again for a long, long time, hopefully. It was more that. It was more just -- putting the old cliche, the nose to the grindstone. But it really was. It brought us a little bit closer together, for some reason.

Our chemistry is something that we really believe in, that we really -- we absolutely believe that our chemistry is one of the parts of our success, and I think it even brought us even tighter.

Q. It looked like the team had some fun in Seattle yesterday exploring. Is there anything else that you're hoping that the team will be able to do while you're here or are you now fully locked down into game mode?

LISA BLUDER: Last night they went to the bubble gum wall, which sounds completely disgusting. I'm sorry, Seattle, but it does to me. I did not go. They did. They went to the public market, I believe. So they had a really nice time. It was good for them to get out and walk around and see Seattle. It really is a beautiful city.

This morning, I went for a walk along the waterfront there. It's a beautiful city, and we're glad to be here. But they enjoyed it. We needed that after a four-hour flight here, to get out and stretch the legs. The one thing that they have talked about wanting to do is the Ferris wheel. I don't -- would you recommend that?

Q. I would.

LISA BLUDER: You would? I'm sure you would. Especially at $17 a ticket, I'm sure you would. (Laughing.) They told me that already.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Coach, thank you so much.

And thank you so much for your questions.

(Pause.)

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with questions for the student-athletes. How about a quick comment from you ladies?

CAITLIN CLARK: Questions.

THE MODERATOR: Okay. Who has the first question?

Q. Caitlin, a lot of opposing coaches have talked about your passing a lot recently. I'm curious, it seems pretty obvious you can work on shooting individually, but how do you work on becoming a better passer?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think it's not really something you can just go into the gym and work on. I think I'm lucky enough to play at a school where we go into practice every day and we compete. We play a lot of live basketball, and I think that's the best way to get better at a lot of things.

Even working on lowering my turnover numbers, I think that was a huge thing is just playing basketball. We always play pickup in the summer when you can't work out with your coaches as much. So I think that's the biggest thing.

But honestly, I played soccer from a very young age and I think understanding angles and reading angles is something that helps your passing. I'm able to anticipate a lot of things and know where I need to get my teammates the ball and on time. So I think understanding angles and anticipation is just like the biggest two things that help me be a good passer.

Q. Gabbie, you and the other two starters, other than Monika and Caitlin, have really taken on big roles this season and over the last couple seasons, they have grown. How have you been able to grow into that role to help kind of elevate this team?

GABBIE MARSHALL: I think, obviously, people are going to focus on Monika and Caitlin, as they should, and I think, really, it's harder for teams to guard us when we have bigger roles and we know that. I think especially after that Maryland game at Maryland, we knew that we had to step up and we had to knock down shots. They were focusing on Monika and Caitlin, and the supporting cast had to step up.

So I think we've done a great job at it, and Monika and Caitlin are great at finding us and giving us the confidence to knock down the shots when we're open.

Q. I know coach was talking about how Georgia and Colorado play different types of defense, but is there anything that you can take from that Georgia game and playing a team that really prides itself defensively into the game tomorrow?

MONIKA CZINANO: Yeah, I think we all talk about kind of how lucky we are to have this path in the NCAA tournament. I think defensively they all do a great job. Obviously I'm a little bit more focused on post play, but Georgia plays with two bigs, so does Colorado. That's not something we normally see in the Big Ten very often.

So having that aspect, just having a lot of height down there in the paint kind of clogging it up, I think we're really lucky to have played Georgia and have that experience under our belt for Colorado. But it's just going to be a physical game. They're going to try to speed us up a lot. Just kind of playing how we know we can play is going to be huge for us.

Q. You just talked about how you faced Georgia last week. They played two centers. Colorado does the same thing. What similarities do you see from those two? And how does the matchup just all together kind of be similar to last week?

MONIKA CZINANO: I think it is super similar. I think that for me and Mckenna having that under our belts, just the physicality of it more than anything. When you play with two centers, we both have to box out harder, crash harder, all these different things, and it kind of adjusts our game a little bit, adjusts our shots a little bit. So having that under our belt, just kind of having a sense for the physicality of it, is really helpful for us.

Q. Someone asked Coach Bluder what game was kind of a trigger for you, a turning point, what win, and she said it was the Maryland loss just before the Indiana game and all that. How was that a turning point and how were you able to get things rolling again after that?

CAITLIN CLARK: I would totally agree with Coach Bluder. I think that loss kind of stung a bit. We understood a lot of people are going to go back and watch that film and have a blueprint of how to beat Iowa. We knew we needed to change some things to be able to not let teams guard us like that.

We were happy we got another shot at Maryland to show you can't just take two players out of the game and beat us. I think Gabbie and McKenna, Kate, even our bench play Hannah, Sydney, Molly, I think they have all stepped up in big ways and I think we all understand too that if we want to win two games here, we're going to need everybody. It can't just be a couple people. It's got to be all five players on the floor at one time.

Whether that shows up in the box score or not, you need to be dialed in and do your role. But would I totally agree with Coach. I think it was the Maryland loss. Everybody knew that we had to elevate our games to a different level. And understanding people are going to watch that film and think they have a way to beat us, and I think we understand it now that -- we have seen about every defense you can throw at us, jump, zone, man-to-man, pressure, full court, every press. So I think finding confidence, and we've been successful versus basically every defense. It's just executing who we are.

Q. Caitlin, I know you're probably not focused on the scoring record right now, but since we are in Seattle, I'm curious if you have met Kelsey Plum, if you have a friendship with her, and the similarities that you see between the two of your games.

CAITLIN CLARK: No, I've never Kelsey Plum, but I'm a huge fan. Obviously, an amazing college player and more amazing pro and NCAA all-time leading scorer, led Washington to the Final Four. So somebody I really admire. But I did not make that connection. But she is tremendous. I love watching her play. I think she plays with a fire, a passion, that I try to play with and emulate.

So definitely somebody I love having on the TV and obviously I feel like she's taken her game to the next level every single year. So she's been fun to watch and kind of one of my idols.

Q. For Caitlin or Gabbie, how does their guard, Sherrod, impact their play on both ends?

GABBIE MARSHALL: Yeah, she's really fast and quick. She loves defense. She's going to get up in your shorts. She's going to pressure the ball. She's going to try to get in your head. She's going to run through passing lanes. But I feel like we -- it's nothing we haven't seen before. She plays with a lot of energy and passion, and she is that leader for their team. She's going to drive in the paint hard and she's going to find her posts, but I think if we just really lock down on defense and play hard, we'll be fine.

Q. Curious about your soccer comment. What position did you play and what was kind of your style?

CAITLIN CLARK: Definitely not defense. I was the forward. I scored the goals. But soccer was the first ever sport I played and I actually played all the way through my sophomore year of high school. It was really hard to give up, but in Iowa, soccer is in the spring, which was when AAU basketball was, so I had to make a decision.

I honestly probably could have gone on and played DI soccer too, but decided basketball's probably going to be a better route for me and it worked out well, but I definitely miss it. I had a lot of fun watching the World Cup and stuff. But do I give it a lot of credit for foot quickness, reading passing angles, things like that. So I loved getting to play it, and it was the first-ever sport I played.

Q. Monika, how will having Hannah back help with that double-post defense?

MONIKA CZINANO: Oh, it will be such a tremendous help. I just think that -- I've said it so many times today, but it's so true, that Hannah having the ability to come in at the 5 just throws a type of offense at the defense that they're probably not used to seeing. I'm such a traditional back to the basket post. I never dribble, really, if I can help it, and Hannah dribbles. It's so dynamic. Such a great rebounder.

So I think it just gives the defense two completely different looks that they have to be ready for. So having her back is so, so helpful in that regard.

Q. Caitlin, you guys are focused on March Madness, but there's always a lot of conversation around you and Aliyah Boston and the debate for Player of the Year. I was curious if you knew Aliyah at all and what you kind of think of the conversations that go on around that award.

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I do know Aliyah. She was my teammate on USA Basketball. I think the debate is really good for women's basketball. But I think I'm focused on winning games and really -- I understand the people that vote for those awards, those are just their opinions and things like that, it's not all of America casting their votes on who they think should win National Player of the Year. And really the only opinions I care about are my teammates and my coaches and what I have of myself and the confidence I have in myself. But like I said, I think Dawn Staley said it really well last year, we need these conversations for our game. That's what grows it. It shouldn't just be one person, end all, be all. It should be, there should be conversations. Because that's what hence the game grow. You see it on men's side all the time. You never know who is going to win Player of the Year, things like that. So more than anything I think it's really good for our game, but at the same time I'm just focused on getting my team to Dallas.

Q. Caitlin, you're really introspective on stuff like this. Colorado's the closest team here. They still had to come 1,300 miles. With the two sites, nobody's close to Seattle, just your thought on what maybe could be done to make this format a little bit better?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I mean, obviously this is really new, so I think it's a learning experience for all of us. I liked Seattle so far. I get to play in the arena that Sue Bird gets to play in or played in. I think that's pretty cool. But I don't know, I think there's going to be a ton of women's basketball fans here in general, I think. This is a city that supports women's basketball. Sure, would I love to be closer to the Midwest where it was a drivable distance for Iowa fans? Absolutely. But say if Washington was here right now I'm sure they would say the opposite. So I'm not going to complain about being in the Sweet 16, I'm honestly just really happy to be here. But would I love it if it was in Iowa City? Yeah. But it's not. But I'm just here, I'm ready to play basketball, doesn't really matter where it's at.

Q. Your -- in your region, there's been upset. Duke lost, Stanford lost, Texas lost. All on their home court. Instead of taking that as, hey, look at the way our region just opened up for us to make a run at the Final Four, is it more kind of a maybe kind of another thing to get you focused on, hey, if we don't bring our best game, this region has already had a lot of upsets and we could be the next one?

CAITLIN CLARK: Yeah, I think, absolutely. And I think we understand that really well. We lived that last year when we lost in our home court. So it's sometimes hard to watch other teams go through that, but I think that's what makes March Madness the best season or the best post-season tournament in all of sports. There are those upsets, there's Cinderella teams, there's teams going into 1-seeds and knocking 'em off. That's just going to draw more people to the game. That's what's going to have people talking about the game. I think more than anything it gives us an understanding if you don't come ready to play you're going to go home and I think that's what makes this tournament so fun.

Q. You teased it already, but you landed, you had a little bit of fun in Seattle and you just came off of practice. So two-parter question: How did it feel to walk into the arena and onto the court for this practice and then what's it been like for you in Seattle so far?

GABBIE MARSHALL: I think it's a special feeling. Obviously there's 16 teams left and we're one of the 16 teams that gets to still be playing basketball. So I think, honestly, we're just excited for Friday and just blessed to be here and just happy to be here, honestly.

MONIKA CZINANO: It's a beautiful city. We got to go to the gum wall last night which was kind of fun. This is the furthest West -- or we went to Portland, but second time furthest west I've ever been. I think a lot of people on our team are similar to that. So we're having a lot of fun. It's a really special trip. It's definitely a business trip, but it's cool. Our coaching staff does a good job of kind of letting us see the culture of the places we go to a little bit. So it's really fun and we're really looking forward to the game.

CAITLIN CLARK: I think the arena is awesome too. It's built down into the ground, right, like Carver Hawkeye Arena. It's got good vibes then.

Q. When you were talking about the Maryland loss being that turning point. Was that something where it was like a spoken thing, like the team had a get together and really just discussed how you move forward, or are you all just so kind of connected that it was almost unspoken where you just knew what you needed to do to move forward. How do you specifically come together after that?

MONIKA CZINANO: I think it was a little bit of both. I think it was honestly embarrassing what happened to us at Maryland and we all knew. When you get 30 pieced on the road it's not fun. So I think it was kind of a group thing. Obviously we had meetings with Coach Bluder and stuff and our coaching staff does such a good job of kind of routing our focus. And we had Indiana coming up, which is another big matchup. So I think it was just, we talked about it, yeah, but all of us knew we needed to change if we wanted to make it further than we've ever been before. So, yeah, a mix of both.

CAITLIN CLARK: And Maryland's a tremendous team, let me add.

MONIKA CZINANO: Yes, yes.

CAITLIN CLARK: You know, it's always fun getting to compete against them and they're a very hard team to play on the road. I think we understood that and I think we just understood that wasn't an accurate representation of what our team is. I think wanting to change that -- and I believe our season could have gone one of two ways when we played Indiana at home. We weren't playing for a Big-10 regular season title anymore, but the game still meant the same to us. We were coming in there to win for our seniors on Senior Day in front of a sold-out Carver, our fans still showed up for us. And we won on a buzzer-beating shot but we felt like we played a dominating game against them the whole time. I think we've been able to ride that momentum throughout the Big-10 tournament, the first two games of the NCAA tournament and we're bringing that here too.

THE MODERATOR: All right, ladies thank you so much.