NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 29, 2001

Cheryl Burnett

Tara Mitchem

Jackie Stiles

TARA MITCHEM: We are all really excited about being back in Missouri, especially when we were shipped to New Jersey and then to Washington State. I think it just means a lot for the whole team, not just me. I mean, this is, you know, I'm a from Springfield, Missouri, but it has been a home to everybody, Jackie, Carly, Melody for four years. It means the world to us, the fans, the community and our program.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: I think we're a tremendous example that anybody in March Madness can reach a Final Four, but at the same time, it was our goal, and we had our dreams and our goals together, and we believe that it could happen, because we are a quality basketball team. When you say a "conference like ours," I'm not sure what that means. I understand you are talking about the power conferences, because we deal with that conference all the time. As a Missouri Valley Conference team, we believe that our Conference has prepared us extremely well and maybe our Conference deserves a lot more recognition than it is already given. In terms of our package in '92 and our path this year, the configuration of how you get there then is different than now, in terms of we had a first round game at home then, second-round game at home then, and then went on the road -- what did we do then? (Laughs). We went to Iowa when they were one of the No. 1 seeds and had to win on their home court. Had to go to Rutgers and win on their home court. So there are some similarities in that. Now we have a chance to do what we call comeback home. On Selection Sunday, our seniors said to our crowd, we want to see you back in St. Louis, which for us, was kind of coming back home. In '92, we had to go out to L.A., which meant a long way away. So this is a very special year for us.

JACKIE STILES: Well, the recruiting experience was very wild for me, being from Claflin, there was no other person that had went through what I was going through. So I had 19 home visits in 20 days. It was pretty wild. I narrowed it down to three, and it was SMS, UCONN and Kansas State. Well, my dad and my coach told me to, you know, sign the letter of intent and if I woke up the next morning and felt right about it then I would send it in. And you know, something just didn't feel right the next day. SMS was in my heart, and you know, they started recruiting me when I was 12. I started becoming very familiar with the program and the incredible following that SMS has, Coach Burnett and her staff I knew she would push me every day to bring out the best of me as a player, and I just felt it was truly meant to be that I was a Lady Bear.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: This is definitely very wild, and it's been quite a ride these last couple of weeks. But, you know, your ultimate dream is to play in the Final Four, and you are the most focused you have -- to be for Friday's game, because that's what it is all about, and you just have to come in here and try to get the distractions out of your mind and just focus on what you've done to get here and what you're going to do, your game plan, and Coach Burnett will have us focused and ready to play for Purdue.

JACKIE STILES: It has been very wild. I still have to keep pinching myself and keep saying, "Is this really happening? Is this really me?" I have to credit so many special people for getting me where I am today. It starts with my family, and then goes on to the incredible people I've been surrounded by at Southwest Missouri State University. You know, basketball is a team game, and without my teammates, I would not have scored a point. And my coaches have been incredible, it's just a total team effort. We really appreciate all of this media support and it's a chance for us to get Southwest Missouri State women's basketball out there.

JACKIE STILES: Wow, it's been crazy. It started with the Wichita State game and we have had a lot of emotional games since then toward the ends of our season. Then we get the NCAA Tournament, and, you know we find out we have to go to New Jersey; so we traveled out there. Fortunate to win two games, and then it was all the way to Washington. We were able to win two games. And the ironic thing is just get to come back home, you know, three hours away. You know, we are living a dream right now. It has just been a dream season for us.

TARA MITCHEM: You know, Jackie is just such an amazing player. I've been honored to play with her. But the thing that people don't know is she is an amazing person as well. I mean, she's a much better person than she is a basketball player, and I think that says a lot about her. And she is the most humble person that I have ever met, and she credit her team for so much, when really, it's all her. She's just amazing, and this whole ride that we've been on for two weeks, I mean, I don't want it to end.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: And let me add to that if I may. The thing that I have thought that is amazing, not only about Jackie, but about our team, in these two weeks or three weeks, this amount of time, they have remained very focused. There have been all of these wonderful things said and done and the media getting more excited about our team and certainly, all the wonderful awards Jackie is receiving. But as a coach, what I appreciate so much is they still understand the focus. They never change. Jackie never changes. It's a consistency, and that's really why I think we have been successful.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: I'll be real honest. That was a year after we had been to the Final Four. I wasn't even going to go to the Final Four that year, because our team wasn't playing and it was just so different. I ended up making the decision to go ahead and go to that Final Four, and I was so glad I did because of that Cheryl Swoops (ph) performance. I know that there's been a lot of comparisons ever Jackie, taking a team to this level, and I reiterate the same thing that Jackie said. Yes, Jackie herself is a great player and she is a very big reason that we are here, but I think that her supporting staff has also played some incredible basketball. If we get to the level that Cheryl Swoops took that Texas Tech team, we'll certainly be happy.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: I think it's been a huge influence on the game of basketball for me. I was a four-sport athlete in high school. I did cross-country and tennis in the fall, and then basketball and then track. I know now the big thing is a lot of times specialization, you know, people think you can't do all of the other sports, but I think all of those other sports really helped me. I mean, tennis was lateral quickness. Cross-country, I built a good base right before basketball season. And then, of course, track, I lifted weights really hard; and I ran the half-mile, the two-mile and the quarter. So, you know, that really helped build my athleticism and it really helped me for the game of basketball. I've really tried to continue some of that, the track workouts to help keep me in condition. I think that's one of the big reasons I've been able to stay healthy -- knock on wood -- is because of the conditioning factor.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: Well, I wear Cynthia Cooper shoes, and they are the '97 model. So they are old. I just love these shoes. I mean, they fit my feet so well. New don't know, I'm very superstitious, to stay the least. But I've been -- I'm really hard, I guess on my left foot and I've been blowing out the left side of my shoe, and so I went through about ten pairs, and I can't find any more of these Cynthia Coopers. So I mentioned it in some papers, and Nike has been looking all over and I think they pulled out a pair of size nine Cynthia Coopers out of the archives, and I just got them right before we went and played Duke in Washington. So I've never worn black shoes before, but I'll wear black because they are my coveted Cynthia Cooper shoes.

JACKIE STILES: Words can't describe how supportive and how much our fans have meant to us. They have just been incredible. They have given us so many memorable moments throughout our careers, and, you know, I just cherish so many of the moments that they have given us. That's what's made playing at Southwest Missouri State so great is our support that we've had, whether it is at Hammond Student Center in Springfield or on the road. They are behind us 100%, be it win or lose, and it's just been incredible. For it to be St. Louis, you know, with all of these incredible fans and Missouri, and, of course, Kansas, it's just been incredible for us.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: Great question. Thank you for asking about our fans. As we went out to Rutgers, when we left, all the Rutgers people said, "We cannot believe the number of fans you have and how active they are." When we left Washington -- and you have to understand, we had a lot of people drive to Rutgers, drive home, 20 hours, re-pack, get back in the car and drive 30 hours to Washington to make it in time for the game; then to drive home one day home, some of them were not even back when we left, to now drive a short drive to St. Louis. And everywhere they go and everywhere we go, people compliment us on how active our fans, the number of fans we have, and what great people they are. You know, we sold out the last five, six games at home, standing room only. People could not get tickets for weeks. It's a very blessed experience.

TARA MITCHEM: We are probably, I mean, the closest that any group of girls can be. We all lived in the same dorm our freshman year, and it just kind of evolved from there. Personality-wise, we have got Melody Campbell, who is the best leader that I have ever seen. She's one of our captains and she is just a great point guard. Jackie leads by example. I mean, Jackie just speaks for herself, the way she plays. And gosh, my personality, I don't know. Carly is the goofy one out of the bunch. Tiny has only been there two year, kind of soft-spoken but gets us ready to play. I don't really know what to say about myself, but we've grown so close, and I think that that's what makes it so special is because we are all such good friends off the court. I think that that's why we play so well.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: Well, I don't want to go as far to say that it doesn't matter, but at the same time, we have seen basically, I would think, everything this season. If we haven't seen it, I don't know for sure what it could be. Certainly, I know that Jackie and our team get a lot of opportunities in the open floor, and I've continued to say for years that Jackie is the best in the open court. She's actually made me change the way I coach. You know, usually if you don't have an advantage in numbers, I tell our players wait, and then we'll run something halfcourt; we'll start to screen and do some things. But we have given Jackie a rule: If you see one take them; if you see two, take them; if you see three, you might think about holding up, but most of the time she tries to take them, too. So she's scoring a lot in transition. At the same time, Jackie has become an incredible basketball player away from the basketball. And I think it also takes a very unique group of young women that surround her that get her the ball and are patient enough that they give up some things to make sure and wait for Jackie to come off a screen, and then feed her the basketball if she is even open for a fraction of a second.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: I think with our non-Conference schedule, we have always played an incredibly tough non-Conference schedule and all of those teams -- I'll use an example: We go to the Virgin Islands. We played LSU in the first round. Penn State is at the tournament. Texas Tech ends up beating them. We beat LSU and we play Texas Tech in the championship. All of those coaches take away from that tournament that she averaged 40 in the tournament. So everybody that we have played in non-Conference -- in her career understands what our team is all about, understand what our program is all about. I think what has happened now, is that it has escalated to the basketball fan. Coaches have known Jackie Stiles and Southwest Missouri State for years. Players have known. But now it's getting to the point where someone turning on national television at night is seeing Southwest Missouri State and Jackie Stiles, and I definitely think that's the biggest difference.

TARA MITCHEM: It's been pretty crazy. We get calls from people we don't even know, wanting tickets. Especially because I'm from Springfield, I have so many family members that want to come and so many friends, and I can only get six tickets. That part has been a little disappointing, and they are so hard to come by, but, you know, what can you do.

JACKIE STILES: Well, this has definitely been a great problem so have, trying to find tickets. But, you know, all of Claflin wanted to be here, which 600 was impossible. (Laughter). So we get six, and you know that's really all we could do is six tickets. So I got every one of my immediate family members in the game, but that's really about it. So many other people wanted to come, and they are doing their best to get here, and even if they are not here, I know they will be watching.

JACKIE STILES: It's really been great for me to get those experiences and opportunities to play against some of the best players in the country during the summer with USA basketball. I had a great summer playing with Sue Bird, Shea Ralph, you name it -- Ruth Riley, I played can Katie Douglas. They are all tremendous players. And I think that's really helped me, when you play against great athletes and great players, your weaknesses show playing against that caliber. So I've been able to take what I've learned in the summer playing against those great players and go back and work on them and try to help it make me better for my seasons at Southwest Missouri State. But I've had a lot of fun and made a lot of friendships playing USA basketball with some of the great players across America.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: Oh, gosh, who do they remind us of? I don't really know that they remind us of anybody, because they are a great combination. I think of great guard play and great post play. Their post play might remind me some of Texas Tech in terms of they are such versatile post players and post up so well. In terms of how we matchup, we don't talk about individual match-ups because we feel like we have to always play team defense, and it is going to take another great team defensive performance. Post defense is going to have to be great. We are going have to be able to stop dribble penetration, stop 3s and block out, just basically what we have to do with all of our other preparations in the NCAA and now.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: I do know that the way we travel, which we took a charter back from Washington, but the charter didn't leave until, what was it, 2:00? Which meant we got back to Springfield at 7:30 PM. It was great, because after the game we got to rest. Our players got to sleep in. But what it meant to coaches is we didn't have the game tapes until 7:30 that night, and we only had one game tape because it was on ESPN, and while we were playing, they filmed it. So it did put our preparation back a little bit. We had one night, practice the next day, and then got on a bus and left again. And on the four-and-a-half-hour bus ride, five when you count eating, we coaches again are missing five hours of film time. So we know that we are prepared because we spent basically most of last night preparing, going to practice today with a great game plan. And I think our players, they might be a little physically tired, but at the same time now, you've got to be ready to play.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: They can't figure it out. They keep asking the same thing.

JACKIE STILES: Well, again, it started at the age of 12. They started recruiting me, and they got me to come down to -- this was '92. So this was right after they had made it to the Final Four. So, you know, I was in total awe of the program. I remember watching Melody Howard play. I really idolized her. Then, you know, Coach Burnett and her staff, Coach Burnett's intensity, and I knew she would get the most out of my talents and abilities, and I just saw the tremendous support surrounding Southwest Missouri State. At the same time, it was six and a half hours away from my hometown where my family was still close to me and they could still be a part of my college experience. UCONN was a great school and I felt like I probably could have fit in there, as well. It was tough, but my heart said Southwest Missouri State, and you know, looking back on it now, it was definitely the best decision of my life.

JACKIE STILES: Well, definitely growing up, my ultimate dream was, you know, an aspiration to play in the Final Four, and I believe Southwest Missouri State could reach a Final Four. I knew Coach Burnett had tooken a team there in the past, and I just believed that it would be possible and I believed that we would accomplish it. You can't script it any better than for it to happen your senior year in St. Louis Missouri. It just shows that you don't always have to go to, you know, the power schools, the power Conferences; that if you believe in your dreams and you give it everything you have, dreams do come true, and it's happened here for us.

COACH CHERYL BURNETT: Her consistency has definitely been her ability to score. It has increased every single year. I think every part of her game has improved. Definitely in our program, we build everything around the defensive end, and Jackie has become a great defensive player. At the offensive part of the game, with the basketball in her hands, Jackie coming into the program was tremendous. She now is a great basketball player away from the basketball, with her reads and her screening, the disciplines of blocking out, the disciplines of taking charge. The great thing about a player like Jackie, and Jackie is the fact that when she has shown what her weaknesses are, she works to improve on that, and she has done that over the course of four years, putting a lot of time in the gym.