NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

March 27, 1998

Gary Blair

Sytia Messer

Christy Smith

COACH GARY BLAIR: It's time for Cinderella to be home. Cinderella is going to go home with its head up high. And, yes, we got defeated by a team that caused us all sorts of problems. They took us out of our offense. They did a lot of things that even some of you gifted sports writers couldn't have got out of some of those traps that they were running on us. And, folks, that was a great exhibition of responding to two close games at regional, and they went back to the drawing board and did what got them there, and that's basket attack; take the ball to the basket and attack and get the offensive boards and just do the little things well. They were -- we were forcing turnovers, we were doing everything wrong on the offensive end. And we had our chances. But we used two words all week, opportunity and responsibility. The opportunity to have a chance to be Cinderella and knock off perhaps the greatest team that's ever played the game. That will be measured on Sunday night. So that cannot be the story yet. But, my gosh, it's pretty close. And the responsibility that we have representing all the other colleges that are out there that might not have the best team or the best players or all the All-Americans in the world. And there are a whole lot out there that do not have that. But we have a responsibility for the other 300 Division I schools to give it our best shot, to live up to what we accomplished. We earned our right to be here, it wasn't given to us. It wasn't given to us. The story early was Stanford losing instead of us winning. We've earned the right to be here, and I hope we showed you a basketball game of kids that did not quite have the ability tonight. But we're going to work to try to get to that level. And hopefully we owned up to the responsibility that we had to all the other coaches that are dreaming to get here, because it has been a blast. I'd love to go out there and play another 20 minutes right now.

SYTIA MESSER: I think we did a pretty good job on her the first half. And the second half she showed why she's the college player of the year. She just took over the game.

CHRISTY SMITH: Well, in January I don't remember them trapping us full court. But we did work on it and shoot around it in practice, breaking their press. They just took advantage of their height over us. And I felt like a little ant out there trying to pass around it. But there wasn't much we could do. They're quick, they're athletic and they got to spots faster than we could pass it.

SYTIA MESSER: I agree with Christy, I don't remember them doing it in January. And tonight I'm like her, I feel like I was an ant, too, trying to pass over those tall players. They just stepped up and did a good job of trapping.

CHRISTY SMITH: Yeah, we had a great time coming here. We had a great time out in California, like I said before. And we are all an inspiration to other schools that are low seeds or aren't ranked, that's great. Maybe our presence here has benefitted somebody. But other than that, I mean, we got beat pretty handily, so I don't know, hopefully we would inspire somebody.

SYTIA MESSER: I just wanted to hug her, because she's someone that I've looked up to for three years, and I knew that that may be our last game together. And I wanted to congratulate her and let her know that I wished her luck in the future, and she's a true role model to our whole team.

COACH GARY BLAIR: We've really improved, wasn't it 28 points this time, instead of 30? Folks, I thought if we could keep the game ugly, it would give us some confidence. And we were keeping the game ugly in the first half despite our turnovers. Do you realize if Christy would have held up on that last possession, instead of shooting the 3, it had a chance to be a 7 point ballgame. And she was trying to make something happen on that last possession. We just scored a 3, they missed, we got the rebound, 30 seconds to go, we rushed the ball down the court and we shoot an open 3. If they hit it, we'd have been flying high, but we missed it. I thought that was one of the keys in the game. It's not the miss. But we took the shot, and we should have held for the last shot. And then it was completely my fault on the Jolly wide open. When I saw Holdsclaw in the open court with the basketball, I told Wendi to go over and double. And then I remembered who she was guarding and I was saying oh, no. And as soon as I did it, I didn't even look, I just heard the swish in the air. Because I knew it was my fault. Those are coaching mistakes, that I'm too much of a Veteran coach to make that type of mistake. And that was me. We had a chance to have a 7 point, 9 point halftime game. And that was the difference. They were able to get a 13. We didn't learn from that. They came out in the second half like a great team. In the first five minutes of the second half was the ballgame.

COACH GARY BLAIR: People have been trying to count out the SEC. We're young in the SEC, except in Tennessee. And they're young, but talented. The SEC is going to be stronger than ever next year, and Tennessee is going to be better than they are this year, because of the post kids they have coming in. People do not realize there's six teams in the SEC that have been in the Final Four in the last ten years. Auburn started in '88 and then it's been Tennessee, of course, about every other year or whatever year. But Vanderbilt, Georgia, Alabama and then there's us. Is there another conference alive that's been in the Final Four in the men's division as well as the women's division, six teams. But, as usual, we get no respect. We're the Cinderella. Why not give us the credit? In the Elite 8 -- I'm sorry, in the Elite 8 teams that were in the NCAA Tournament, eight of those teams were in the top 14 in RPI. Schedule has a lot to do with it. We earned it by the schedule, particularly in the SEC. People were jumping on the bandwagon on another conference that beat their drum before they should have been. We surely were not beating ours, we worked and earned our way, and stayed out there on the West Coast. And you all woke up in the morning and realized we were still around. It's been a fun ride. You know, let me ask that one more question. Do they still play a third place game in this game? They used to years ago? Kay and I would love to play one more game, even if it has to be at another gym. We're enjoying this. I'm so happy for Kay Yow, for what she's meant to the game. She's accomplished so much with the Olympic team and everything. We'd love to have a third place game.

COACH GARY BLAIR: Their chances are Tamicha Jackson, Stallworth and Maxwell handling the press. But I do not think Tennessee will press against Louisiana Tech as against us. Tennessee can play any game you want to play. They can zone you, half court trap you, great half court defense. I do not believe they will go out there and play the type of pressing game they did against us. Tech is quicker than us, their guards and the wing handle better than us. And that's where they hurt us. They knew our wings had problems in the traps. And we've had that same problem all year. This was not something new. We've got to work on that to overcome. I think the other key is very similar to what LA Tech did against NC State. There was no spectaculars about NC State. Louisiana Tech has the way of getting easy transition baskets and we get zero all night.

COACH GARY BLAIR: Louisiana Tech and Tennessee are the two greatest programs that have ever played in the NCAA in the '80s and the '90s. There's other great program with the Old Dominion and the USC's and Stanfords, and I'm sure I'm missing somebody, but what I'm talking about, it's great for women's basketball that an University of, like Tennessee, can go do what they have with the money that is allotted them and the great coaches and all that and maintain. That's the hardest thing in the world to do. But then the smaller school, the Louisiana Tech, the ones when that said all the big schools were going to take over, they're still here. And they're always going to be here because of the commitment from the University. Guess what? Those coaches don't graduate, they're still around. And Louisiana Tech will always be there. But I think it's very ironic, perhaps the greatest team that's ever played the game, Tennessee, is going to have to play against the other team that has meant as much to women's basketball as Tennessee has went to women's basketball. Louisiana Tech has meant that much, because it gives the little guy a chance. The little guy a chance. And that is something that's very important. And I commend Coach Barmore. You talk about a tough choice? Who do I pull for? I was assistant coach, they gave me my first chance. The SEC means so much to me. Pat Summitt gave me more of her time when I first got into the league, she was the first coach to call and congratulate me. She was the first one to do the little things, and that meant a lot, because I was just the rookie getting off the boat. And that meant a lot. I gave her a book before she left the SEC tournament, called Developing the Leaders Around You by John Maxwell. And I said Pat, you need to read this, because it's the best basketball business book I ever read. And all of a sudden it's got a chapter in there, "Coaching Your Dream Team". And before we played the other day I asked to have that book back. I said there might be a chapter in there, "How To Beat The Dream Team", I must have missed it. I hope that book helps her. So for tomorrow night I can't honestly say I'm pulling for the school that gave me my opportunity, I can't honestly say I'm pulling for Tennessee. I can honestly say I'm pulling for women's basketball, and the two teams that have meant the most to women's basketball are those two programs.