NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - DRAKE VS COLORADO

March 21, 2024

Allison Pohlman

Bramlage Coliseum

Drake Bulldogs

Media Conference

ALLISON POHLMAN: First and foremost, really excited to be playing in March and that was a very dramatic end to our conference tournament.

You know, a year ago, we sat in the same position when we were in Texas doing a press conference after playing extremely, extremely well, really building some momentum at the conference tournament and having really back-to-back 18-point, 20-point wins. And this year we come as a very dramatic finish, an overtime win, and then also a game buzzer-beater to get the nod and the go-ahead to be able to play here in Manhattan.

So really proud of this team. Very, very excited to continue to play into March. And yeah, let's go.

Q. You guys are on quite a winning streak, 14 games, you've only lost once since mid-December. Can you carry that momentum into the tournament?

ALLISON POHLMAN: Well, we are really going to try to do that. I think this team, you know, Grace Berg alluded to this, but I think what they have done, the phenomenal thing is they have stayed extremely in the moment.

I love the fact, what she talked about, is we have not practiced today. We have not moved on to tomorrow or even to having dinner this evening. It's really just trying to stay one second, one minute at a time.

So instead of, you know, thinking about that we had 19 conference wins, ware in a 14-game win streak, all of that stuff, every time I go to the media, I'm actually surprised at some of the statistics because it's not something we really focus on. We are just focused on trying to get better every single day and enhance our culture and our chemistry on the floor.

Q. You've been part of this program for quite a while now. I asked the girls, WNIT and a couple NCAA Tournaments. How has this -- how have those past experiences, how will they help you going into the game tomorrow?

ALLISON POHLMAN: You use the word "experience," and I think that's one of the things we will continue to lean into. The WNIT, you have Katie Dinnebier, Anna Miller and you throw a Grace Berg in there who uniquely enough has just -- keeps coming back; and we're happy to have her back, obviously.

But those women have really had those experiences and each and every time, you know, they gain something from that, that on-court experience.

We stepped on the floor last year with Louisville, and we have reflected back to that, and having those -- those experiences, I think are things that we can learn from but also you know you don't want to duplicate anything. You want to make it special. And so hopefully we can change the landscape of that, step on the floor here tomorrow and really continue to get better as Drake Basketball.

Q. And the same question I asked the ladies a second ago, you've been involved in college basketball for a while, and the popularity of women's college basketball has really taken off. How proud are you of that and how impressive is it?

ALLISON POHLMAN: It's extremely impressive. I love the fact that we are interest from the state of Iowa, and if you are going to talk about the state of Iowa, you're going to talk a lot about basketball. It's impressive that not only are there Caitlin Clark jerseys running around but there are little Katie Dinnebiers and little Grace Bergs. I absolutely positively love that.

I love the fact that we are talking about sellouts and tickets and people getting in the stands because I have we have a lot of women to celebrate, and I think we have a really amazing product for people to get behind.