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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 7, 2006Erika ArriarianJody ConradtTiffany JacksonNina NormanDALLAS, TEXAS COACH CONRADT: I think this game was pretty much a snapshot of our season. We played really well at times, and then we would have breakdowns and it just couldn't finish the job. I think our lack of experience in games like this against a team that is as good as Iowa State is, we played them early and we handled them. But things change as we go along, and Coach Fennelly does a great job. They are very hard to guard, there's no question. I don't think there's another team in America that is as hard to guard as they are, because they all score well. They wait for you to make a mistake and they knock down the 3s better than any team I've played against. So it was a combination of them playing well and particularly down the stretch and our making some critical errors as we had a chance to win the ballgame. We were up 67-60 and then our wheels start to fall off and then we're playing from behind trying to do things to catch up. It's not any one thing, and you look at the stat sheets and we are out rebounded and they shoot twice as many free throws as we do. But on the other hand, we had our chances to win the game and just couldn't close it out and they make plays and we don't. Q. Their defense changed, stacking it on the inside, what really stopped your scoring when they changed into that 2-3? TIFFANY JACKSON: Well, I guess inside, and also penetrating, so when Erika went out of the game or Daria went out of the game, that sunk in and clogged us in the middle and stopped us from what we do best. Q. Coach talked about how this was a snapshot, this season for you as a senior, did you feel like you guys were close to getting cohesion ever, or what are your general feelings of the way you guys finished up? NINA NORMAN: Well, you know, nobody wants to finish the season this way. There were points in the season where I thought we were getting better as a team and coming together, things of in a nature. Like Coach said, it was a snapshot. We played really well sometimes and the next couple of minutes, we just fall in the hole and forget everything we're doing. Q. Nina, it seemed like every free throw they hit were at the perfect time, were those just daggers for you guys? NINA NORMAN: It hurt us a little bit. I think it hurt our confidence because we went back on the offensive end and didn't produce. They came down the fast break and hit a three and then they all had perfect timing with that. I think we got down on ourselves a little bit and they took the lead, it was hard for us to regain composure. Q. You get to come back, do you feel like this is the kind of team that is just maybe a little health, a little seasoning away from being pretty special? TIFFANY JACKSON: I've been really proud of our freshmen the way that they have progressed this season. I think every day and practicing every game, they have gotten better and better, so I'm really excited about the season next year but we are really disappointed about this season. Q. Tiffany, would you want to play more basketball if you got an invitation to the WNIT, would you want to play with any of the veterans on this team? TIFFANY JACKSON: Yeah, I would like to play. I'm very competitive and I would hate for people to see that as being our last half losing. We want it for the fans and all of the people that really support us and behind us, all of us want to continue to play. Our seniors, Nina, Daria, Tamra, the seniors, we'd just hate for them to have to leave on this note. Q. Nina, do you feel that -- it seems like for us it's easy to say it's a young team and you mix in some injuries and it's going to be a tough season. Was there anything else beyond that in your heart that you think affected this team? NINA NORMAN: Actually, no. Like this past summer went by and we looked really good and I was excited and then Carla and Eniya (ph) got hurt, but we still have some really talented freshmen on this team. I was disappointed it didn't turn out the way I wanted it do, but again, it is experience and you just have to take what you can get. I think we could have been a lot better this season, but we just started to play together too late in the season. Q. Erika, as a freshman, what would you say you learned form this season that you can apply next year? ERIKA ARRIARIAN: From the beginning, Coach said every possession matters. I think in high school as freshmen we think we can go once or twice or even three times down the floor and make a mistake and feel like we can get it back. But definitely we learned, every game that we've lost, that every possession does matter and just like you all saw tonight or today, the exact same thing. Q. You said earlier about the WNIT, is the thought still the same, that you don't think you guys would go? COACH CONRADT: You know, we really haven't talked about it. When I was asked about that earlier, that a quote taken out of context. The whole thing wasn't recorded. It was a conversation, not just one or two sentences about that. I think that kind of decision is for the players. And what they say in front of this group they may not say the same thing in the locker room, I don't know. It's a discussion we will have. I will say about the WNIT, I remember our football team had to go a couple of times to the Holiday Bowl. There was not a great deal of excitement about doing that, and this WNIT is not the NIT. We need to think about how we can make it more attractive. It doesn't end in Madison Square Garden, and you don't get a ring or anything tangible when you play in it. So it's about, where is this team. These freshmen have had a long season. We are not healthy. Even Tiffany and Nina are not 100%. So I'm not going to try to influence them one way or the other. I think it involves a lot of people. It involves, can our event staff get together, it's a home event, there are lots of issues to be determined. But I don't think it's going to be made in this environment. Q. With the youth and the injuries all season long, how does this compare challenging, trying-wise for you as a coach? COACH CONRADT: When I saw the team in the locker room, all of us learned thing. I learned things this year. I've never been in this situation. I've done this a few times, but I've never been in a situation with a team this young and this inexperienced, and it's every position. You look at Tiffany and she's a really great player, and you look at Nina and she's played a lot of basketball. But have they been responsible for a team on the floor? Have they been in a leadership role? No. So all of that is new, as well. This is a team, you have to live it to really understand it. There's so much going on in their heads and in their minds that it's hard for them to focus one time down the floor. I mean, there were some critical breakdowns down the end. Are we switching screens, are we hedging screens, and then what are we doing on the offensive end. There's just so much information that they have to take in, as Erika said, on every possession. We don't always use the best judgment possible, but it's not just about the youth; it's about the inexperience. We had a couple points where we ran down there and lost the ball down the sideline. There was one possession we came down and we took a quick shot, and it's as if the players all believe they can do it by themselves because they have done that before. It's just a whole laundry list of things that the team has to learn. And, you know, right now, I'm not even sure even at this point when the season ends which players are going to be the ones that are going to step up and make plays. So it's like, oh, okay, let's dial-a-player, because there have been days where every one of them have done something. There have been days when every one of them have not done something, it's really been interesting in that regard. And we have some talented freshmen, no question. I think you saw a little bit of Mergerson today, which she is capable of doing. But she can't play minutes and she's had very little playing opportunity because of the injury. Erika, it's been really a stretch for her to be able to do the things that she's done. I think if you take just what she's done, she's had a pretty amazing season, considering how much pressure we put on her. But it is about this team needing an off-season. At the beginning of the year, they had no idea what they needed to do to play at this level, and now I think they have an idea. They know they have got to get to work, they have got to improve on some things, and it was hard for Tiffany to trust them because you don't know what's happening, and Tiffany sometimes does too much herself because she's not sure about what is going to transpire. So it's just a combination of things, all put together, and injuries are not a little part of that. Q. Did you discuss what happened in Austin earlier against these guys was not necessarily going to happen up here, and what was the big difference in these two games besides the outcome? COACH CONRADT: Well, was definitely worried about that, because you can tell them and tell them and tell them, but they have in their mind, we beat them by 30 in Austin. But what didn't factor in in Austin was Meadows (ph) barely played and she was hurt, and I'm not sure how she played but she's pretty important to what they do. And I thought their inside game had come along considerably. Some of the people that are playing inside have really stepped up, and they are a different team. We played well that particular game in Austin, but, yeah it was probably in their minds, that, hey, this is a game that we can win. We started out really well and it's almost you can't decide; they have a tendency to relax, and I thought they did, or if you want them to really work hard early so that they get into that mode. We played really well at the beginning of this game. We knocked down some shots that we have not knocked down all year, and that probably gave us a little sense of the fact it was going to be okay when it really wasn't going to be. Q. Most people will probably look at a young team and say they need more reps, so why would they not race off to the WNIT. But you're saying that your team is not healthy enough? COACH CONRADT: No, I'm not saying that. They may go back and tell me they want to go, and if this team wants to go, we'll go, or we'll be wherever we are, or we'll play at home I assume. That's something that they need to decide. But the most important thing for this team right now is going to be individual work outs and an off-season, an off-season of taking the experiences they have had and trust me, they will separate themselves over this off-season. We won't still have seven or eight inexperienced players who will all be at the same spot. And really, you look at our team, they are all at the same spot right now, and I'm talking about the freshmen and I'm talking about the returners besides Tiffany, and she'll be the only real player who returns with a lot of experience besides Erika. So they will separate themselves in some way, and that group coming in will have some kind of impact. But we have work to do in terms of who is going to be the leader now. I don't know, and that's going to be a really big issue. Q. Have you enjoyed any of it or have you lost your love over the stretch at all? COACH CONRADT: You know, it's always hard when you lose. There have been a lot of moments. They are a really fun group and I said the other day, I can go to practice and I can kill them, I can have a run and I can really get on them. When practice is over, they want to hug me. I'm going, what is wrong with this group. Usually when you coach a group and you really push them and you try to get them -- they will get mad. They will do something, they just have a good time every day. It's really interesting to see how they do respond. I haven't been in this situation before, I'm telling you. Seven freshmen probably would have been a challenge to begin with; but when you have the injury and we started out wrong, there's no question, we started out wrong. Tiffany and Nina were not in practice when we started because they were hurt. So who sets the tone, who shows them how hard they have to work, and never got it; that I think has hurt us throughout the season.
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