NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 27, 1997

Katryna Gaither

Muffet McGraw

Beth Morgan

MUFFET McGRAW: We are happy to be here in part, in the Final Four and looking forward to this great experience. We are also here to do a little business. I think we will be ready to play when we get on the court Friday night.

MUFFET McGRAW: I think the key for us throughout this tournament has been rebounding. We tried to limit the game to one shot and hope they shoot poorly and get the ball, something we are working on. We are rebounding the ball, take care of the basketball on our end and not beat ourselves.

MUFFET McGRAW: I think it definitely puts us on the map. Last year we were in the top 25 for most of the season and this year we are in the top 25 most of the season. I think the television exposure we got this year was tremendous and being in the BIG EAST conference helped us enormously and it will be great for our league.

MUFFET McGRAW: I think we got past that at Texas. If we got past the Sweet 16, we would have gotten a closer step. But after that game, we weren't celebrating as much as we were looking ahead to the next game and wondering what would be in store for us next. At each turn, we got less exciting about winning and more excited at the next step.

BETH MORGAN: Definitely. I think when I first signed with Notre Dame, was to help get the team in the Final Four and to be here for all of us seniors is a great accomplishment for the whole team. Like the coach said, we are not just happy to be here, we are fighting for a national championship just like everyone else.

MUFFET McGRAW: That's correct.

MUFFET McGRAW: Youth is an advantage from my staff because you have 8 players to force the play quite a bit. Fortunately they are in great shape and I don't have to worry about them having a heart attack out there. That's an advantage. Also, the fact that they have played recently, I think the players respect what they have to say because they can actually go out and show them. And they do quite frequently. And our staff generally beats the team whenever they play. So I think that makes for a lot of respect. And also a little more cohesive group. I think there is definitely a lot of comeraderie between the staff and the players.

MUFFET McGRAW: I didn't know they kept stats like that. I think it's great. I think I really don't look at the game that much in terms of the male and female. There are a lot of great male coaches in our game, but it is a women's game and I think it is great to see women coaches in it.

MUFFET McGRAW: Not really. We are in great shape physically because we play zone, don't get into too much foul trouble and haven't been hammered by that. I think that most coaches, probably only play about 7 or 8 players with the exception of Stanford because they do have some tremendous talent on the bench. Most coaches that we played, they played 7 or 8 people the majority of the time. That's all we have been playing and that's all we do play.

BETH MORGAN: We both worked basketball camps, done it in Indiana, I think, for two summers. Our high school teams never played against each other but our AAU teams had. I frequently see her in the summer. Their AAU team usually went on to win the national championship, and just spending two weeks with her in the Indiana Allstars I definitely got to know Abby over the course of our basketball careers.

MUFFET McGRAW: There is a positive impact on our program for two reasons. One, it gives us exposure nationally and certainly Notre Dame football is well known. In addition, the academic and athletic excellence is well known. Also in terms of what they are able to do for us when they go to Bowl games, as a team, they get a lot of money and that filters down to our program. That obviously is a big success for us.

MUFFET McGRAW: It doesn't affect us at all. When you go to a tournament, you are zero zero. One loss of the season and basically we all hold the same record right now.

KATRYNA GAITHER: I think it has been, a lot of them have been realizing that Notre Dame is getting a little bit of exposure. So we do get some support from the community at home. A couple of weeks ago, center court in the men's basketball game and got a standing ovation from the community. It was great and felt they were behind us all the way. So we do get a sense of that. We get exposed at home and they know us now and they see how far we came along in four years.

BETH MORGAN: I think Notre Dame has been known for its great family atmosphere. Everyone always talks about what a special place it is. I think all of the players really experience that this past week when we came back. We were greeted at the airport. Fans, some of our friends, media, local media, and on campus, anywhere you went, whether you knew somebody or not, everybody seemed to say "congratulations" and good luck in the Final Four. So I think the whole atmosphere around Notre Dame has been great for us. Then also, in Bloomington, where I am from, that's IU country, and my whole neighborhood is decorated with gold and blue balloons. That's a great step when you go to Indiana and see an Irish sign for me.

KATRYNA GAITHER: This is definitely a way that I want to go out. To be in the Final Four, it is a very honorable position. I think a lot of teams don't get a chance to go. This is definitely a way that I really -- a way that we can all show ourselves, our talents, and then we can see how far Notre Dame came. Not too many people heard of Notre Dame basketball, in the past now, and to see how hard we worked to earn the position that we are in right now. I mean, it is great, definitely, a great feeling to be here right now in the Final Four.

MUFFET McGRAW: I think in the first game when we played Tennessee, in the preseason at N.I.T., we had just come from Iowa and a big win. We were playing with a lot of confidence. We were not shooting the ball well in the beginning of the season, probably not until we got into January did we start shooting the ball well. That game was a very poor performance from the perimeter. Katryna played an outstanding game and she had about 25 points in that game. I think she had just a great time. We tried to get her the ball as much as we could. Tennessee was in that position, also. I know Jolly was out of the lineup and they are a lot better than they were then. I think we look at that game and we came out of the game thinking it was a game we could have won if we shot the ball the way we generally do. I don't think we look at it, as saying, we lost a game to Tennessee. But we were in the game the whole time. It gives us confidence.

KATRYNA GAITHER: The way I see it, I am a quick player. Usually they are bigger and more physical inside. The best way for me to do is to avoid that physical contact. The way I could do that is my quickness, get around the players, catch the ball and the run, catch it on the run, not too much on the physical block. It is going to be very physical in getting my way to the basket. So basically I use quick maneuver and I see my post playing and double team, and a couple of moves to get around some of the post players.

MUFFET McGRAW: I don't know that you can stop her completely. She is an outstanding player, very talented. What we would do is limit her to one shot, keep her off the boards, and getting her own miss and putting it back up. I think our goal is to keep her off the backboard.

MUFFET McGRAW: That was the low point of our season. Actually the turning point of our season. We met after that game and really were all very disappointed. I felt I was responsible for the loss. I felt that the team was playing well but the things I was doing were not really helping us. So I made a couple of changes in what I was doing, talked to the players a little more and we also started to shoot the ball a little better. That game we hurt ourselves with turnovers which we are capable of doing at any time. We worked on that, also. We have gotten a lot better since that game. I think everybody would probably agree to that.

BETH MORGAN: Obviously it is the first time in a few years that Connecticut is not representing the BIG EAST. I think it would be great for the BIG EAST if both teams were here and everybody's expectations were them to be here this weekend. I think it is kind of ironic because I don't think most people would think that Notre Dame would be the representative from the BIG EAST.

KATRYNA GAITHER: Definitely, they were looking more to see four number one seeds here and to see Tennessee and Notre Dame, Old Dominion and Stanford here, is kind of expected on our part. But representing the BIG EAST, for Notre Dame to come on this way is really a big surprise for them. But definitely I would expect Connecticut to be here, also.

MUFFET McGRAW: I think the year before I came they were 12 and 15 and basically had everybody coming back. So we just took that team and turned them around. My first four years were twenty win seasons. I think because of the conference we were in, we didn't get the national exposure. I had a lot of success and had a lot of great players but in the BIG EAST conference, we weren't playing at the national level. I think football has always helped us in terms of our recruiting. Coach Holtz was great in talking about it and we never felt overshadowed by football and anything they do for us has always been beneficial.

MUFFET McGRAW: I got a remark from Bob Davies from South Carolina saying good luck. There is a supporttive atmosphere from the coaches at Notre Dame. We all want to be national champions and all want each other to do well, no competition. On the campus, it is same thing. Notre Dame loves their teams and obviously everybody loves teams to win. The reaction that we are getting seems to be pretty similar to what the soccer team got when they were national champions and what the football team has gotten.

BETH MORGAN: They are happy for me and the experience I had at Notre Dame because they know I thoroughly enjoyed it and most people wanted what was best for me and they see that I had a great experience at Notre Dame. Like I said, the reaction in Bloomington has been outstanding. I have heard from my parents, anyway, just everybody has signs up and calls they have received. So I think that probably in essence, yes, they have.

BETH MORGAN: I think, obviously, the past three years Katryna has dominated the paint. Her presence speak for themselves. She has just brought a tremendous amount to our team in that I think it gives us a lot of versatility in that the team can't concentrate on our inside game and it definitely opens things up from the outside as they can't concentrate on that either. So I think she has definitely brought a lot to the team, a lot to the program since she has been there.

KATRYNA GAITHER: For Beth Morgan, she is a vocal leader and as a team, we are aware of our position and brings us together. It is great to have a vocal leader on the court because it puts back in perspective what we have to do. Not only is she a 3-point shooter but good to have the vocal voice on the court and gets us back to what we have to do. It is wonderful to play with her. I think she is well contained and really, the way with her presence on the court, brings a focus, kind of an aura on the team with the way we should be playing, that there is some quality and brings us back togetherness on the team. That's one of the greatest things about Beth Morgan.