NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 31, 2001

Muffet McGraw

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I think going to the Final Four definitely helps with recruiting. I don't know that it helps right away, because the audience you are going after at that point, I think are more the freshman and sophomores that will be entering the recruiting process pretty soon. I think that the class we brought in this year had a lot to do with that. I think that we've had a lot of success the last couple of years and we can point and say we've been to the Final Four, we want to win a National Championship, maybe if you come to Notre Dame you can do that for us. I think that's been very effective for us.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I don't know that there were specifics. We tried to shield the team a little bit more than last time. That was the biggest thing, trying to take away the phone calls and the distractions for them. So we have not gone out. We have not really left the hotel too much to go around and experience everything that's going on. I'm sure the team is going to go down to the Arch once or twice, but I don't think they have gotten involved in the actual festivities of the Final Four.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I think it is a great thing for the state, the first time having two teams in the Final. I think it's exciting. You look at the players on the floor, we've only got Ruth Riley right now but we've had some great players, Sheila McMillen and Beth Morgan, and we have one coming in next year and I think with Purdue they have got a few of them but I think it just speaks to how well girls basketball has played in the State of Indiana.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I think the keys are going to be the same as we had for Connecticut and rebounding is definitely one and keeping Ruth and Niele on the floor is the other one. I think that for us, it is important to have our best players on the floor for 40 minutes and hopefully we'll rebound a little bit better than we did against Connecticut.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: She looks pretty good today. The doctor said she absolutely will not practice. She is not allowed to do anything today. Keep it elevated, keep it iced but regardless of how much it hurts, I know she's going to be out there tomorrow.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: Well, they are all here. We were out last night and had a great time. They all ran into Theresa` Grentz, back when she was coaching us, so they had a nice visit with her. But it is great to have them here. It is definitely a great moment for all of us.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I think their freshmen have matured. I think early in the season they were just freshman. Now they are seasoned freshmen. So I think that's probably the difference, and the same for us, our bench is playing much better now than it was back in December.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I don't know that you control Katie Douglas. We played that -- the first time we played them, I think she had -- she just had a great game. She's a great player. I don't know that you can stop her. She's the leader of the team. She's going to hurt you inside-outside. She can do so many things. She's a very tough matchup for us. Camille Cooper same thing; she's got the size to go against Ruth. I think it is going to be a great matchup in the post.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: Late in the game, she had the ball in her hands at the point and again, Erika Valek, just a freshman; so she was in and out, and I think Katie definitely took over. She scored 10-points in a row, and we were up 10 or 12 and she kept them in the game.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I think she have had great players there, and certainly, their senior class is an outstanding class with great leadership. I think it was a great situation to go into, when you have talent, you've had a team that's been successful, they know what it's like to win a National Championship. I don't think you can ever replace that kind of leadership and success. And I think Kristy's job was just to keep them on course and let them continue to play the way they have played for the last couple of years. And she did it very well. That can be tough, too, coming into a new situation, new coach, and not wanting to change too many things because they have had so much success.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I guess I think it's about time. I think that this is something that we've been striving for since we've joined the BIG EAST Conference and I think the athletic department and the alumni are extremely proud of us right now. We had a great showing of alumni in Denver. I've gotten so much mail and flowers from alums all across the country. They are just so proud. It is proving that Notre Dame is not a football school. Our last team that won a national championship was the soccer, team and they have been great for the last few years, too. I think everybody is very much behind the women's athletics programs at Notre Dame and certainly having Kevin White at the helm has been a boost for our program.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I think that we were definitely not the center of attention. I think that when we came in my second year Notre Dame won a National Championship in football and that was in 1988. So I think at that point, obviously, football was the sport that was played as a very high level, bringing in a lot of money for the university, doing a lot of great things for the university. So I think that we wanted to use football -- help us as much as they can, Lou Holtz, Bob Davie have done a lot; they talk to recruits, do anything we want to them to. We bring kids in on football weekends and we use football to our advantage, because it is a great recruiting tool for us.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: He played a big role. I think he had five or six daughters, and we were excited about that when he took the job because we knew that he would be looking into gender equity pretty heavily. He is the one that got the Olympic sports, what they call the other sports going. He put a lot of, he put a lot of money attention and he put emotional support into it. He was there, he was visible at the games and I think that was important for us.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: There was no recruiting at that point and I went to St. Joe's because my best friend went there. We were both going to play basketball there and we played together in high school and thought it would be great to go there. It was a young program. My dad wanted me to go to Immaculatta, but I could not see myself at an all-girls school, and he bribed me every way he could to give me anything I wanted to go there. But I was always in favor of the underdog. I said Immaculatta has won a National Championship and I want to go someplace where we can beat them. We never got to that point, but our program certainly elevated over four years and I certainly had a great experience there.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: Well, I think probably the same that everybody had about Notre Dame is: A school with great reputation for academic excellence, a school that had a rich tradition in sports. But was not known for its women's sports program. I think that it definitely was a school with a lot of spirit and a lot of tradition, and that's what I wanted. A Catholic institution, I think that was sort of a bonus for me, but it wasn't what I was solely looking for. I just wanted a place that would give kids a great experience, I great four-year experience.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: We recruited Katie Douglas. She was a very good player coming out of high school. She chose to go to Purdue. She made a pretty early decision I think in that. Kelly Komara, we recruited her, also, and you know, not sure what the reasons were, but both of them chose to go to Purdue. We looked at Camille Cooper a little bit. I think she's from Kentucky, but we didn't get her, either. I guess we had not done too well at that point. Purdue pretty much owned the State of Indiana. Recruiting against them was very, very difficult and it wasn't until we got Ruth Riley that we were starting to get some players out of Indiana.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: Well, it definitely drained us. I think it was a very emotional victory is and when you come from behind, it really takes a lot out of you to get that win. So I think today, we are going to be a pretty tired them team. Hopefully, we'll be well rested and ready to go. But I think with the National Championship on the line, I don't think it's going to be a problem to get ready to play Purdue.

COACH MUFFET MCGRAW: I think that we need to have her on the floor, and I'm not sure what level she is going to be at, but I think with the adrenaline flowing and with playing here at home, she's going to be going full speed ahead. Doctors are working on her and she's doing everything she can to ice and keep off of it today. Hopefully, she'll be close to maybe 90 or 95 percent tomorrow.