NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 4, 2005

Lindsay Bowen

Kristin Haynie

Victoria Lucas-Perry

Joanne P. McCallie

Kelli Roehrig

Liz Shimek

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: I think it's a great match-up. I think Baylor is a great team. I think we're a great team. I think both teams play very, very hard. And I just think that excellent players, good balance, excellent post play, excellent guard play. Just a lot of elements in the game and that's very exciting. I think as two teams that have not been to that point before, I think that adds even more excitement to the opportunity. So I just think it's a great women's basketball game.

KELLI ROEHRIG: They're very good post players. They work very well together. As I think we work well together. So it's going to be a great match-up. It should be really an interesting game in the front court.

LIZ SHIMEK: I think she answered it pretty well for herself. It's going to be a great match-up, it's going to be a battle again. Its going to be a great physical game again to the end.

LINDSAY BOWEN: When was this?

LINDSAY BOWEN: We were trying to refocus and regroup and say we have been in these situations before and just stay tough until the end. And I think we played a great game as a team and it was a great effort.

KRISTIN HAYNIE: Everyone struggles, everyone has their bad games and that's why we have a great team, a well-balanced team. Five or six of us can score double figures any given night. That's what teammates are for and they stepped up and did a great job.

LINDSAY BOWEN: Just they're a balanced team like we are, and you can't key on a couple players. So it's going to be rebounding for sure, hitting people and defense, really getting after them, ball pressure, so they can't see inside and it's just going to be battle.

VICTORIA LUCAS-PERRY: Yeah, I think we saw that kind of green at the Ohio State game. We had a lot of support there. A lot of fans there supporting us. So I think we have seen this kind of crowd before. It will be great to know that there's only one color. (Laughter.)

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: It's simple. (Laughter.)

LIZ SHIMEK: Ever since summer we have been dreaming big, Final Fours, pursue championships in everything that we do. And it's not a surprise to us because we have worked so hard all year and over the course of years for all of us and it's a step for us and we know we belong here because we worked so hard.

KELLI ROEHRIG: I'll get it. I think that all season, I mean have you seen our schedule? We played some big time teams in the conference season and all season long. And we beat some really great teams. I think that really comes to show come tournament time, to be able to beat the Tennessee, and those kind of teams.

VICTORIA LUCAS-PERRY: I think at this point in the season it doesn't matter who people are rooting for. We just know ourselves as a team that we're going to go out there and do what we do.

LINDSAY BOWEN: Competitive.

KELLI ROEHRIG: A heartful, competitive, intense woman. (Laughter.) It's everything together. I mean she's everything. She in life and in basketball. Extremely intense, just after it. So...

KRISTIN HAYNIE: Not only does she care for us on the court she cares very much for us off the court and wants to make sure that we're having a great life. We're not down or whatever. She's there for us if we're struggling off the court.

LINDSAY BOWEN: Just very competitive, intense, fierce. The list can go on and on and on and there's one word that I can't say.

LIZ SHIMEK: Fiercely fun. I said fiercely fun.

KRISTIN HAYNIE: Yeah, Calvin, after the game he sent me a text message and he left a voice mail. He was just really happy for us and he's like "bring home that championship for us." And they're behind us, they're cheering us a hundred percent.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: I just think the more times you do things, the better off you are. And the more you can repeat them, and I think definitely at Connecticut is a very difficult place to play. I think that was a big game for us to rise to that occasion. At Notre Dame was a big game to rise again. Minnesota is a terrific team. Beating them at Minnesota under adverse circumstances and being able to beat Minnesota three times I think said a lot to our team's perseverance. There's a lot of games like that when you look at Stanford and you look at Vandy and so forth. That's the tournament. But I just think that the more you go after it, the more great teams you play, the more comfortable you are in any environment. And this game is about really our team. Playing 40 minutes and doing what we want to do and that's really what it's about for us.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Get some. Our rebounding was horrendous against Tennessee. Our team has already been informed of that fact this morning at film and it was very poor and that's unacceptable.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: I think bringing up the BC was a great thought. We played them at home and it was a great basketball game and I do think you get a sense of how to do things. Our team in overtime is undefeated and has been very strong for two years. Again, I think it's the repetition, going after it, that was a great game. BC is a terrific team and that probably kickstarted some of the things that we did after that. There have been so many great games, I just -- there's been so many, it's unbelievable how many great games there have been.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: I think you could argue that for both teams. Nobody -- I mean -- I mean both teams at this point are teams of destiny, equally so. It's just a battle. It's just a 40-minute battle or whatever it takes. Maybe it's not 40, I don't know. But that's all it is. It's just a battle by two teams. But I wouldn't argue for either one. They're both great stories.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: You have to say the great post players inside and what they do. They're very, very good. Very quick and athletic. Rebounding is a great concern of ours simply because we didn't do well against Tennessee in that area. Ball pressure, there's a lot of things that we need to pick up. I really think we played 25 minutes of our style against Tennessee and then I'm not sure what we did the rest of the time. And it cost us greatly, as you saw. And we were able to battle back from it. But probably those areas.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Oh, what an X factor, what a great player. I think she was the difference maker in the LSU game. And I think her inside/outside ability is very good for them and very versatile and we're going to have to locate her all the time and know where she is and give her nothing on the outside and make sure when she cuts to the inside that she's guarded also. But I definitely think she's a very interesting story and I think she is a key to their game as we have seen against LSU.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Liz Shimek is one of the best four players in the country, hands down. You can't even begin to argue that or argue against that fact. She's -- you know, people haven't covered our team all year in the sense of getting to know our team intimately. And so we're well balanced as a team and so perhaps she could be overlooked. But she certainly is not overlooked in anyone's mind, particularly opponents. She just is so strong and she's so tough and she's such a great competitor. What I love most about her is just who she is as a person. She's one of the most honest hard-working people you're ever going to meet and she wants to rise to the occasion all the time. And she's just the absolute best to coach. She deserves it all, that's for sure.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: I think that it's kind of hard to answer. I just think the game is growing in all areas, including potential recruits and opportunities. I think a lot of women today are excited about what they can do athletically. I guess people -- I just commend Kim so much for her recruiting efforts and what she's done at Baylor. I think that the game is just getting more interesting in every aspect, whether it's more great recruits, head coaches and different opportunities for kids to play for. I think some kids are not -- are looking at different places more because they're seeing more fan support. Now at Michigan State we can show a picture of 14,000 people in our game against Ohio State. That's bound to attract a few recruits right there. So I just think that there's a growth thing going on and perhaps you're seeing some of that in this final.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: I'm sure that there's so many great teams out there. There are, so many more. And the coaching is better, the players are better, the schedules are better. Everything about it has taken an upswing. Again I think it's just getting started really and it will continue and there will be many more Michigan State, Baylor stories coming.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Oh, my gosh, there's so much talent in those areas. I think that we do nationally recruit, but if we can go 30 miles, that's how far we're going to go because I can't stand recruiting. And so I will take the shortest distance to a recruit. So I just think there's great talent in the Midwest. I think if you can get great talent in the Midwest why would you go somewhere else? But if somebody else was very excited about Michigan State, and it was out in California, or somewhere, great, I would go there too. I guess the point is you just want to have a life, you want to be balanced and you want to do the very best you can. I think that's one of the attractive things that kids want to play at Michigan State is because they definitely know we got balance. We have a lot of fun and I think the overall theme is to get more kids attracted to your school than you have scholarships for and then I think you're in a really excellent situation.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Well, we just couldn't think too much about it, to be honest with you. We needed to get a whole heck of a lot better and people needed to play out their roles. And so it just was, it just kind of evolved from what was needed. I think kids today, you can coach anybody. I tell you what, kids today have a lot of problems; on the computer too much, they dress weirdly and do all sorts of funky things, but I have never found a kid that you couldn't coach. You can coach everybody. There's something inside of every kid that you can reach to. And I don't care what anyone says, kids are still kids. It's the adults that are the problem, frankly. I wouldn't want to coach adults.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Well, I think it is a hard subject. I'm not a regulation person, myself. I like sort of a free-market approach that comes from my husband, I guess. But I do think that it's overdone with many kids. I know for example my own daughter would never play a full year of a sport like that and go crazy with all these schedules and these games. We can do it at different times of the year, but I think it's important to have a balance, a healthy balance of what you're doing with children and so it's a tough fee, because you know I hate to regulate, I just hate to do that. But there has to be a balance. I think that there's some things that are overdone but then you have to credit AAU for the national exposure and tournaments and the opportunity. So I don't know. I'm kind of just trying to think through that. I don't really have an answer for you today, except to say that it's a real issue, one that needs to be dealt with and I don't know if regulation is the answer.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Money. Lots of it. Pour it in. It just takes a whole lot of financial resources to get it done from what you're going to do to attract coaching staff. We have a fabulous staff at Michigan State and it makes all the difference in the world. We have a top level coaching staff. We have top flight facilities. They're the best in the country. It's easy for us to sell that. So we're very fortunate with all that we have and it does take resources, resources are a big key.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Yeah, I coached against Sue when I was at Auburn. She's a terrific woman; I have the utmost respect for her. She served as reference for me in my application for my first head coaching job at Maine. And she is somebody who I just think is just an incredible pioneer of the game. She's done amazing things for the women's game all the way around. And there's nothing more fitting than her to receive that award.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Based on last night's performance or just overall? Oh, well, okay. Kristin Haynie point guard, one of the best in the country. I would say she's one of the top four point guards in the country. It's because she does so much. She always comes prepared. She struggled at some times in that game, but of course got a critical steal that was pretty much a game-decider. That's typical Kristin. She's always going to be there. She's always going to come around as a competitor. Lindsay Bowen, terrific player, developed her game, she's become more versatile. Her defense has gotten a lot better and she's just the biggest fighter you're going to ever see and the biggest competitor. When she's shooting as a competitor, she's incredibly accurate. Victoria Lucas-Perry, as a sophomore I thought played with senior poise. One X factor, difference-maker all the way. Throughout the year she's done the types of things that you witnessed last night. I talked about Liz Shimek being one of the top four players in the country. She can play inside and out, she's one of the hardest-working people I know. Kelli Roehrig, just she's so comfortable with who she is. She knows who she is, she loves who she is and she goes out there and intimidates people much more than people understand. Her size and her ability to intimidate is very real. I think that those five together add a lot of different elements to make things go.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Oh, I would tell them to find the greenest T-shirt they could wear and come back. There is great Tennessee fans that I was taking pictures with after the game and it's difficult. Nobody wants to be out of a tournament. But, boy, you might as well make good on your tickets. I think all the Tennessee fans -- listen my husband is from Chattanooga, Tennessee, if that helps. You know. Seems to me they should come back and support the green. But it's just, for them I just think the game's growing and it's exciting and many people did enjoy the game, even despite the outcome, if it did go against them. And talk about great games for women's basketball on national TV and there's something to be said for that, that's a very good thing.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: I have talked to Ian, he's been -- he's had a terrific career as an athletic director. He was not at Maine when I was. He was just leaving. So I never worked with Ian. But he's very, very good and very, very good at what he does and I know he loves being at Baylor.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: It just feels great. I love being from Maine. Maine is one of the most beautiful states and the people are incredible and I'm very grateful to Mike Plasick, the first athletic director that ever hired me at age 26. That was a long time ago. And I'm very grateful to the Maine people, they supported me throughout my career, and I have followed the e-mails I get, the communication I get from former Maine players and Maine people, has been absolutely incredible. You never forget where you're from and I just am proud to be a Mainer.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Well, I think it's important that we just stay true to how we have gotten here and how we have gotten here has been to be awful worried about ourselves and playing our basketball and being motivated by the fact that basically we have only got one more game to really get after some things and there are summer workouts. So it seems to me that we should get a few of our goals with a game that we have left. And I think that's the important thing is to be true to who we are. And this team needs to play this game for them.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: I sold them on pursuing championships, meaning getting bunches of them. Collecting hardware. Trying to go after the men a little bit, because they have so much. Sold them on Michigan State as a fine institution, sold them on the people at Michigan State. Sold them on our facilities and our support and all those things. Hardest sell -- I don't know. It just seemed like none of them were. We worked hard to get all of our kids, but it didn't seem like any of them were a hard sell. I really believe that you kind of go where you're supposed to and you kind of recruit who fits you and it kind of -- some of it happens very naturally. So I can't say that -- we didn't have any holdouts. These guys came on board pretty convincingly.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: We're too young to be old fashioned. We can't be old fashioned yet. I don't know. I think we bring just a lot of energy. The game now is so -- everything is so close. You look at statistics and everything, everything is so close that there's got to be intangibles that make up the difference. I think that me and Kim, you see the energy that we put into our teams. I think that we have a responsibility. I think we're similar -- I don't think that either one of us have an ego. I don't think we care. So sometimes we'll act up a little bit or get feisty, whatever you want to call it, it's not about how we look, it's not the glamor coach approach. It's what can you do for your team today, fundamentally. And I think that we both probably share those thoughts.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Well, a coach, first of all, just provides that belief, the belief in them. And you know these players very, very well. You can read players' moods, you can get a sense of where they're at, and what they're affected by. And it's important to be the leader and be up front about what's going to happen on the floor. That's just what you got to do. You got to, no matter what, no matter what the circumstances are, everybody can do great things when it's easy and things are going easy. When things are hard, that's when the true character comes out. And I think coaches have to exemplify that all the time. And you just got to, frankly, be there for them.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: We will not stop them, you just try to slow them down and maybe take away some things that they like to do. They're both great players. They play hard, they're just very, very good players. So no one's going to stop them. You're just going to try to do a few things and maybe make a difference. Maybe where they catch the ball, how they turn, which side they can go. This type of thing defensively. And I do think that those are great match-ups and it will be fun to watch.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Well, that's a great question. Because in the last three weeks I tell you I'm really worried about the dog too and the bunny. It's been rough. I have not seen the dog or the bunny or the children. But the good thing about the children is they travel. So I do see them. Have I had great time with them, lots of time? Absolutely not. I miss them. So I get to go see them and that's a great thing. I'm very lucky that my daughter is 10 and just is way into this. So you surround them with cousins, you surround them with family and friends and they sort of are the surrogates for you while you're completely unavailable. And I just simply tell them that, "mommy is coaching. I know I can't listen to you, I know I can't do this for you, I can't do that for you. But, boy, won't it be fun when we go to Disneyland or something." (Laughter.). I don't know. You do the best you can. It's a great problem to have though to be in this situation, that's for sure.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Gosh, they didn't do a good job if we went down 16, did we. No, I'm kidding, that's a joke. But Al and Semeka are terrific. Al in particular with all his years of experience, but absolutely they could help us with Tennessee. Absolutely.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Well, I think that the part -- I should qualify that. I love the part when the family and the student-athlete are on campus. I love that part. And if that's all recruiting was, I would be really, really happy. But when you talk about these text messages, you talk about e-mail, you talk about these needy kids that need to be called all the time; when you talk about the way you try to sit closer so the kid can see you, you know, and try to elbow your way amongst your colleagues. I'm not into it. I think it's superficial. And I think that if -- I'm hoping that Michigan State, that we could be so good one day that they could just know us by watching us be successful and say I want to go there" and then come visit. And my life would be a lot happy year and I would probably be a coach a lot longer.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Yes.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Of course, because their kids, they're silly kids. They don't make decisions, that's why they're kids. Of course they love it. This is stuff that takes them away from an academics, this is stuff that takes them away from responsibility. I mean, all that stuff's got to go. In my opinion, they got to be kids first of all. They got to learn how to make decisions and choices. And I just think the whole thing is very silly. It's gotten to be a very immature thing. And I think that we could do well to move to a higher ground with it.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Oh, they relate very well with Tom and his staff. They're terrific people and they have been with us from day one. Tom has called many different times. If he hasn't gotten me directly on my cell, because I don't really answer my cell phone at this time, then he's gotten Shelly Applebaum or one of our administrators to say hello or we -- you know, faxes, cards, all those things. We're very fortunate to have a situation where we have just both want to do really, really well. We're on different journeys. They're trying to go repeat and we're trying to go after our first time opportunity. So it's a little bit different story line, but it's still feels like we're all working towards the same thing.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: That's my husband's.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Well, it was my husband. I think that you might have looked at it quickly. My husband John McCallie climbed Mount Kilimanjaro this summer with John L. Smith, our football Coach and a group of Spartans, maybe 10 or 12. And it was very important for John to get out and do that. Something he's always wanted to do. I stayed back with the kids. So I played my role out there pretty well. So it was a great experience. Something that really a lot of all Spartans across the world got a feel for in that climb. Even on our shooting chart we have got Kilimanjaro in the back, like a little mountain where we talked about our climb. And so I always felt that climb sort of started a lot of what's going on at Michigan State and it was very motivating to a lot of us.

COACH JOANNE P. McCALLIE: Thank you.