NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 3, 2004

Shannon Bolden

Pam Borton

Janel McCarville

Lindsay Whalen

PAM BORTON: I think I can still say good morning. We're very, very excited to be here in New Orleans playing in the Final Four. It's a great experience and it's great to be amongst UConn, LSU and Tennessee, but are we're very excited to be here and that's about it.

PAM BORTON: Well I think when I first took the position because they had experienced another third Coach in three years they had had to rerecruit the players on the team. Just for them to get to know me as a person, to build trust with them, and I inherited a group of kids that had been abandoned after she had left after nine months and I just felt like it was my job for them to get to know me as a person, let them know that I care about them and I was going to be around and sometimes it's not just about what they do on the floor, but you got to show what you're going to do for them off the floor as well. And that was the most important thing that I did.

PAM BORTON: I haven't told her this yet but I'm taking all the credit. No, I think a lot of people have made more out of this story than what it actually was. I think I can definitely understand where Janel was coming from with her being a tough individual to coach, and I think she could understand where I was coming from. It is you have an individual coming off a freshman year with a Big-10 Freshman of the Year. She had a great season. This kid thinks she's doing everything right and because she had great success her freshman year and I come in and I want her to do things a little better, a little more fundamental, a little more basic and for her to be a little more dominant in the post. She didn't want to change because, "why should I change because I was very successful in my freshman year," and I think I took a little bit and I think she just had to gain trust in us and what we were doing as coaches and know, just know that we just wanted to make her a pure player and to make her eventually a Kodak All American.

PAM BORTON: She is the Kevin Garnett in Minnesota. I think she's just as popular, if not more popular than a lot of the pro athletes there. One example, we had 14 thousand people at one of our last games and we just made a big play and Lindsay just raised her hand like this, and 14 thousand people stood to their feet. That was just to get the crowd into the game. She just kind of stood up and just what she has done to the whole state. I think she's won a lot of the hearts of the people in the country and I think that she just exemplifies not what just a great player can do but a great person who gives back to the community and has proven to be a great role model for every one.

PAM BORTON: I think I've gotten a lot of advice from coaches that have been here before, players that have been here before. Your schedule's crazy, they try to beat you down when you get here. And then when the game comes, you're tired because of everything. All the responsibilities that you have. What we have done is we have made this just like another road game for our team. We are here to win. We're not happy to be here and enjoy all this stuff and go down and enjoy New Orleans, we are here to win. We have kept things very routine for the players. We kept things very structured for them. But the players, they still have fun, they have fun with each other. We're just making sure that the kids get a lot of rest.

SHANNON BOLDEN: This summer I worked at the Nike All American camp in Indianapolis with Diana Taurasi and there were a lot of other players from Duke and Penn State and different places like that. And we played pick-up ball in the morning and, yeah, I got to defend Diana Taurasi one of the days and it did do a lot for my confidence. I knew that coming into this season that I was going to have to do a lot defensively for our team. Just defending her there and knowing that I could stay in front of her and knowing that I could maybe frustrate her a little bit gave me a lot of confidence.

PAM BORTON: Absolutely not. I think this is great for women's basketball for two teams ourselves and to be part of the Final Four this year. Just shows a lot more parity in women's basketball and how far women's basketball has come. We belong here. We definitely belong here. There's no doubt in our mind that we don't feel like we're crashing anybody's party. That we have upset some very good teams on our way here. We definitely belong here and we are here to win the whole thing.

PAM BORTON: Well, they have experience. They have been here a lot and they know the routine, they know the schedule, they know how to handle all the stuff that goes on and kind of how to schedule things during the day. Probably walking into the arena and just the feeling I'm sure that they have been here and done that and I think that's what Tennessee has over everybody else as well as they have been here and done that. But I think a lot of the teams that we have played with Duke, and I just feel like we have just stayed very grounded and we were just really concentrating on what's being between the four lines on the court and the game doesn't change and we're just here to play.

LINDSAY WHALEN: I think that any time there's a coaching change you need to obviously get to know the coaching staff and get to know the coach first of all, and I think that Coach Borton did a really good thing in coming to meet all of our families and right when she got hired, she came out and had dinner with all of us and just got to know us as people before we were basketball players. And that's something that really caught a lot of our eyes and a lot of our attention. When we got to the practicing, we got to the season it just was that much easier. I think that it was just a good relationship that we had. Obviously any time you have a new system or a new coaching staff, you go through bumps and stuff like that. But I think we're definitely reaping the benefits right now of hard work and working together. And that's definitely a tribute to her.

LINDSAY WHALEN: That's tough to say. I think that I obviously watched the Final Four's the past years and I've been down here at the Final Four and you always dream, you always hope and you always think that you start every year as a goal to make it to Final Four. But obviously this year I think a month and a half ago or whenever I was injured, and we had a little rough stretch in the middle of the season, we still held out hope but things weren't looking that great. And for us to make this run is just an incredible and it's a tribute to our team and it's just you got to give everyone credit for staying confident and staying with this goal. It was the goal at the beginning of the year and I think the coaches reiterated that when we went out when we had a tough stretch that this still was our goal. And for us to accomplish that is a great goal and we're obviously not done yet. So we're just going to enjoy this and keep moving on.

JANEL MCCARVILLE: I don't think so. It was a business decision. We realized that. It's just I don't think a lot of us were happy on how it happened and the way we just found out over the TV while we were watching the Maryland National Championship game. I think that's the only thing that really disappointed a lot of us, is that we didn't find out from her right away or anything like that.

LINDSAY WHALEN: Yeah. I don't think -- we're in the Final Four. We actually saw her this morning and so it's -- no, there is no resentment. Like Janel said, it was a decision that she had to make and she made it and so, no, we're just happy to be here. We're not really thinking about that.

PAM BORTON: Well, I think Janel plays with a lot of confidence and I think Janel does a great job just playing physical. She rebounds extremely well. I don't think there's anybody, not even one or two people that can rebound with Janel. She's got a repertoire of moves, she knows that she's going to score for us. I think she just has that will. She has that will that she wants to get the job done. And she's a winner and she knows that she's got to do what she does for our team to win.

JANEL MCCARVILLE: I don't know. I think just the fact we don't want it to be over. It's our last time we're going to be able to play with the seniors. I guess that's kind of been the biggest drive for us is just we want to stay in the tournament and we've got a great team and don't want it to end.

JANEL MCCARVILLE: I think they got a great group of players. That's why they won the national championship the last two years. It's not just one or two people on the team. Barbara Turner has led the team in scoring in a couple games. Jessica Moore on LSU has done the same. Everybody compliments Diana on their team, so they have all well-rounded team. It will be a pretty tough match-up for us.

SHANNON BOLDEN: I think if any team makes it this far, they have to have more than just one player. I think that's something that UConn has. I think they have a lot of good role players as well as a lot of players that do their job on the team. Just like she said, Barbara Turner, Ann Strother, there are a lot of people that do their job for the team and that's what makes them a tough team.

JANEL MCCARVILLE: I'm just going to have establish position really low on the block, have my teammates give me the ball in a good position to score, and pretty much have other people step up from the outside to be able to score in order for the inside to open up a little bit more. Just go and play like usual, physical and just being aggressive.

JANEL MCCARVILLE: I would say a little bit of both. As you go up against better teams, better rebounding teams, it's obviously going to be getting harder, which in turn gives you a bigger challenge. Personally I like going up against a big challenge. We faced a lot of great rebounding teams in Kansas State and Duke, so we have handled ourselves well against them and UConn's a great rebounding team, as well they got a lot of athletic players who can get up and get the boards. So it will be a good challenge.

PAM BORTON: Well I think the biggest thing is just in the past we didn't have the WNBA or you can't leave school early. And I think that's probably biggest difference is your great men's basketball players leave school after a year or two because they want to play in the NBA and they never graduate until later on down the road. But I think the women take -- women on the most part take their academics very serious because until a few years ago we didn't have the WNBA and they know they had to go out and get jobs after that. So they knew that they had to have a career as well.

LINDSAY WHALEN: Well, it was actually my hand thankfully. I think the wrist would have been a little bit worse of an injury. So what I did, I think right away obviously it was hard on all of us. It was definitely hard on me. Obviously you never go into a game expecting to get injured. There's always that risk, but to have it happen at that time of my career and the season it was unexpected. I think then as it went on I think that the possibility of me coming back got a little more possible and so I biked and did the stairmasters, the whole health club routine and just tried to stay in shape like that, and just watched these guys and tried to cheer them on. I tried to do anything I could to help us still win and try to stay involved. I think that that whole process and everything we had to deal with as made us a lot stronger and made us a lot closer team and a better team. I think we always say things happen for a reason. So I think we're definitely seeing how much everyone stepped up when I went out. I think that was a big reason. That was definitely a positive that came out of that.

PAM BORTON: I think the biggest similarity out of Diana and Lindsay is they make -- they're great passers. Diana makes everybody on her team better. She gets everybody great shots. She makes big plays offensively and defensively and I think that's what Lindsay brings. She makes everybody on our team better. She gets everybody high percentage shots. And I think that's why both of our teams are here, it's not just the two of them, it's they both make their teams a lot better.

PAM BORTON: I think at some point they will match up during the game. I'm sure that will be a good match-up. They both rebound the ball extremely well. They're both second leading scorers on their team. But I think Jessica Moore will have a part in that as well. I think not just one player can guard Janel. We're expecting double-teams, triple-teams. I'm sure they will pull everything out of their hat. But we're prepared and we have seen that all year. It will be a good match-up.

PAM BORTON: I think that the games that they lost I think that, I just think that the biggest thing that stands out is the other team was a little more aggressive than UConn. A lot of times I think the biggest mistake that teams make before they play UConn is they're UConn, and they're already beat before they get on the court against UConn just because of their name. But I think that the games that they lost, these teams were extremely aggressive, they went at them at both end of the floor. And they hit shots and they just ended up winning the game because they were the more aggressive team.

JANEL MCCARVILLE: Obviously I hope the game's a little bit not out of control. Aggressiveness, you know. You don't want to be too physical where people get hurt, but I just hope that it's been like the Boston College game. That game we were able to pump a little bit and establish position low. But I don't know, you just got to keep your head in situations like this. Especially in the Final Four. Weak teams, that's why weak teams don't make it to the Final Four is you have to be strong mentally. You really can't let the referees take you out of your game.

LINDSAY WHALEN: I think that we want to play like the underdog, because the underdog always is scrappy and is always fighting for everything they can get. But definitely we have the confidence we can win and we have that swagger and confidence to us as we're ready to play and we're ready to play anyone. So I think that that's kind of our mentality. I don't know if what Janel has to say, but.

JANEL MCCARVILLE: I kind of go with that. We really do play well as the underdog role. Yet we do have the confidence to come in and think we can win it all. We have been playing great of late. Obviously we're not going to try to change anything like our role is how we go into the games.

JANEL MCCARVILLE: Whoa. (Laughter.)

SHANNON BOLDEN: I think that we're all really proud that we all come from -- most of us come from Minnesota or at least around Minnesota beside Kadi coming from Sweden. It's just nice to see people staying in their home state and being successful there. And I think we get a lot of support from our fans in Minnesota because of that. Because we're not leaving the state to go play at other schools we're staying there so that they can watch us and they can cheer us on.

LINDSAY WHALEN: I think that that's a big reason why I chose to come to Minnesota is that you hear of all the names that have left the state and you see them playing, some of them in the WNBA some of them like at Stanford and Georgia and all over the country. You see great players leaving Minnesota. I think that it's just it needed to take one class or a you couple of individuals to stay here and turn the program around and then we would start to get your Shannon Bolden and your Shannon Schonrock and your, you can do gown the line of all the players from Minnesota that have came here. And we'll take one Wisconsin player or two. (Laughter.) We'll take a few imports. We're not, we're not biased. So -- (Laughter.) But I think then once you do that the recruiting is now up to the coaches and we have gotten great players from all over the country. So I think that at first you start out with your home and you just have to get a few good players to stay and just to make it an appealing program and make it something that young kids want to play for. They want to play for Minnesota now and that's something that definitely we can take pride in that.

LINDSAY WHALEN: Well, I think that I have a good family and I have great teammates and great coaching staff that don't let me get to thinking myself like that. I really don't think of it like that. I try to stay grounded and if I ever will step out of that I definitely think that there would be enough people to make me back down to reality. So I really don't think of it a whole lot like that. I think it's great that it's a different, it's a change, I think it's a different product that people can watch and people are excited about and I think it appeals to a different demographic in the Twin Cities and around the country. So I think that it's just great that people have people look up to and they have role models and the younger kids now have someone to look up to and so I think that that's all part of your job and part of what we do.

JANEL MCCARVILLE: That's a good question. I don't really know what made me start passing so well. I played football a lot with my brothers. I was able to throw the football there and I guess that's how the long pass got started with me and Whalen. But I love to get other people involved. I almost like passing more than scoring. That's why I got in trouble with Coach early because I passed too much. But, no, it's great to get other people involved it makes the team harder to guard.

LINDSAY WHALEN: Most real or surreal?

LINDSAY WHALEN: Surreal, you don't get to proposed to every day. (Laughter.) So that is definitely up there. There was a sign that this one guy, he's at every game, he wants me to run for some kind of City Council and he's always holding up the sign. And it looks like a real sign that someone would put in your yard for voting. So that was pretty cool. I don't know. We have a lot of great fans. That's part of what makes us so enjoyable is that our fans have been there with us and have just been great supporters of us. And that makes it just so much fun to be down here and we're glad that they can enjoy that just as much as we can.

LINDSAY WHALEN: Me? Well, I don't know. I don't know if I want to say that right here. We got a lot of cameras and press here, so I'll -- I don't know I've only voted once, so I don't know maybe I'll get more involved in that later on in my life.