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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 5, 2006Seimone AugustusPokey ChatmanScholanda HostonNORTH LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS THE MODERATOR: From LSU, we have Coach Pokey Chatman, Scholnda Hoston, Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles. Coach Chatman, would you like to open up with a statement. COACH POKEY CHATMAN: No. I didn't know I ever had a choice. No, I wouldn't mind opening with an opening statement. You know, so often we get lost in things, this basketball game that has such elite athletes on the court, it gets lost in the shuffle. So often the mental to physical as four is to one. And the mental part of that is for as close to 40 minutes as possible, whenever you face a tough opponent like Tennessee, you have to carry the game plan from the practice floor, from the locker room, from the huddle onto the floor. Often we didn't do that. Some of that was related to Tennessee, some of that to us. I credit our team for still putting ourselves in a position to have a shot at winning the basketball game. But when you give up 10 three-pointers in this environment this late in the year, it's going to be a struggle, uphill battle. But I credit the kids for battling back and making a basketball game of it. We don't want to be good. I want to make that next step to being great. Mentally we'll get back to Baton Rouge, we'll work on that and we'll be a better basketball team. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. You talk about giving up 10 three-pointers. Half of those were to Spencer. How much of a focal point was she coming into the game defensively? COACH POKEY CHATMAN: You know, it's scouting report defense. That's her comfort zone. She's obviously a threat from a three, try to make a play off the dribble, don't lose never her in transition. Four for four in the first half, if I'm remembering correctly. They were wide-open looks. Some of that continued. We also gave up more looks in the second half. We were lucky they didn't fall. Can't be lucky from here on out. If not, you pack it up and you go home. Q. When you had the ball about 35 seconds left, did you expect them to immediately foul? If so, did you ever consider having Seimone bring up the ball? COACH POKEY CHATMAN: Well, a different day, Seimone would have brought the basketball, it wouldn't have been a foul. It a chess match from there on out. Erica White has done a good job of hitting free-throws. It's one of those plays where you take that chance. Seimone's shooting free-throws pretty good. Maybe a double team comes, she gives the basketball up, and somebody else gets fouled somewhere else. So that's the chess match for the basketball game that you have to play. Q. Seimone, when you took that last shot, it looked from the sideline there might have been an opening to the basket. Did you not see one? What did you see at that point? SEIMONE AUGUSTUS: It wasn't open into the basket. Spence, I believe, I don't know which player it was but she held off. I didn't want to take a chance at drawing a foul, losing the ball, whatever the case may have been, so I stopped and shot the jumper. Q. Scholnda, same thing, can you take us through your defensive sequence, the shot that Parker hit about 20 seconds left. SCHOLNDA HOSTON: It was a one-on-one match up. They cleared out (indiscernible). I forced her to her left where I felt it was a little less of a comfort zone for her. She shot a fade-away one-handed jumper and it went in. Q. Pokey, did you consider fouling at all there with three to give when you still had the lead on that possession? COACH POKEY CHATMAN: You know, it's one of those things where you look at where she got the shot. Early, if you remember, when she was in her comfort zone going into the post, (indiscernible) the double team. But she's such a good basketball player, you know, if you come with the double too soon, she'll hit a shooter wide open. We thought our defense had really gotten them out of a rhythm, and that was one of the first times she got a one-on-one look. We really felt good about that because we were sagging in, Sylvia was doing a good job of playing some position defense. Like Scholnda said, at the end of the day we're a very good defensive team and we went to our bread and butter. On that particular possession, she was better. Q. Pokey, you were able to beat Tennessee in Knoxville when it had Alexis Hornbuckle. How do you explain the difference in these two games? COACH POKEY CHATMAN: There's a million differences in the game. You think about how long ago that was, the adjustments Tennessee has made in terms of the other players stepping up, playing a little bit different. Candace is definitely getting a heck of a lot more touches. Those touches change possession by possession. That's a team making adjustments to what's necessary, responding to injuries. I thought you saw Tennessee attack the glass a lot more. I thought their ability to get so many offensive rebounds was something they did a better job of when we were in Knoxville. I think it boils down to the time of the year, this tournament. You can't really compare a 40-minute game during a regular season to a game that comes on the heels of back-to-back-to-back. There's so many other factors. Q. Is there any team mentally tougher than Tennessee in a situation like this? COACH POKEY CHATMAN: It's kind of hard to speak to that because there's not a lot of teams you play. I mean, I give credit where credit is due. You know, tonight they were mentally tough. Therefore, they came away with the victory and the SEC tournament championship. Q. In the second half I think you guys went about six, six and a half minutes without a field goal. What was going on offensively or what wasn't going on offensively right about then? COACH POKEY CHATMAN: Yeah, that kind of goes back to the opening statement. Understand when I say this, it's always with the idea that the opposition has something to do with it. Then it boils down to a matter of wills with the scouting report defense overshadow your scouting report offense. I think if you go back to possessions, our script was to reverse the basketball at least two times so we could make the defense move, therefore creating some gaps for us to penetrate and also move the help defense so Sylvia wasn't as crowded when we tried to lob the basketball in there. I think that was one of the those times where we didn't really stay true to the script. That's the mental against the physical. Q. What do you think this loss or this outcome does in terms of NCAA tournament ramifications for both y'all and Tennessee? COACH POKEY CHATMAN: You know, I may be the only coach in the history of the world left that doesn't think about it. You know, I'm thinking about how many days I'm going to give them off, when we're going to practice, because that's the only thing I can control. I hope I never change, but I have to be honest with you and tell you I don't.
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