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BIG 12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2007Jasmina IlicKathy McConnell-MillerJackie McFarlandOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA MODERATOR: We're now joined by Colorado Coach Kathy McConnell-Miller, two players, Jackie McFarlund and Jasmina Ilic. If you would please, Coach, make some comments about today's game and congratulations on the win and your thoughts and then we'll take questions. COACH McCONNELL-MILLER: Thank you. You know, I'm just really pleased and proud to be sitting up here with these two ladies. They were phenomenal today. It was a total team effort. I told her before the game that I wanted to coach another day with her, to come in here tonight and to win a game post-season. I'm excited. I know they are. When we left the locker room, we talked about a lot of things we don't typically talk about as far as what happens in the win, what happens, the excitement, moving on the energy, tournament time. We spent a lot of time in the hotel room talking about that. We watched film again this morning in a more relaxed, casual way. We think the preparation today was different than we've had all year. Bottom line, these two stepped up, made big plays, made their free throws, and it was a battle against Texas Tech. It was a great challenge for us, start to finish with the pressure, their on-ball screens. Made some adjustments in the second half that made the difference in the game on the defensive end. However, we are here to play another day against Texas A&M. Q. Coach, could you talk about facing Texas Tech without Chesley Dapp in the lineup? COACH McCONNELL-MILLER: I think this is the first game without Chesley Dabbs in the lineup. I think the first game before, she was not playing with the team. So on film, they are a different team with her. They won one game since she's been out of the lineup, not in the rotation. It's been a struggle for them. But I'll tell you what -- the films I've watched, they've been in games at the end, joining to make shots, joining Patrice Edwards and Robertson, what can you say? The girl has done everything but strap the team on her back. It's hard for me to say with or without, because we didn't the first time around. Q. Coach, will you talk about Jackie's resiliency. She's got people all over and she scored I think 9 of your last 11 points and got the assist on the other. COACH McCONNELL-MILLER: I'm not sure how she does it with her body. If you ever read anything I've ever said about Jackie McFarlund, the bottom line, she does not take a playoff, not in practice, not in games. The only time she does is when she should. In practice, we had a rotation, five possessions and possession work, and I will have to tell her to stay in 2 out 3. The next thing, I turn around, she's in the fourth and fifth possession, she's playing somebody out. I'm surprised at the amount of minutes she can play. I'm surprised what she does with her size on the block. But the bottom line is she's a great student, she's a great player. She's wonderful for the University of Colorado, and it's all about her preparation. It's all about her work. And I love coaching her. I know when I design something out of a huddle, she's going to make it or she's going to get to the free throw line. She's just a tough player. Q. Kathy, for you and Jackie, was the backdoor lay-up to Whitney, was that a call play? Because it looked like they kept sagging to the middle, especially as soon as she got the ball wide open in the corner. COACH McCONNELL-MILLER: Jackie has faced double teams and triple teams all year. We go -- Jackie's ability to pass out of the double or triple teams. And I thought today she passed out particularly well. We typically pass out to a shooter, but anyone that watches us knows in a lot of senses teams don't guard Whitney Houston. They typically double with her or sit her on top of Jackie. Whitney, being active, they hit her in the corner a little bit, and she's usually maybe a screener or passer, but I thought Whitney's cut to the basket I thought was -- two of them were key for us. It's all about the double teams that Jackie has to handle. Q. Two-part question. First of all, what did you say to your team to overcome the turnovers because they were hitting you pretty hard in the first half? You had to make a adjustments. COACH McCONNELL-MILLER: I saw Whitney Houston. Q. And the energy she brings to your team, what does she really bring for your team? COACH McCONNELL-MILLER: She's a freshman. And she's an exciting player. You know, when she's sitting on the bench next to me, if she said it once, she says it 30 times, "I'm ready, Coach," as soon as I pull her out. It's almost as if I hear it as I go to sleep at night. She's the player that's hard to keep off the floor because she keeps rebounding and keeps balls alive, goes on the defensive end. Her decision making. She hasn't played a lot of point guard in her life, so trying to score, taking care of the ball, vision defenses, it's an ongoing teaching process with us. And some days you get more frustrated than others, but today I thought she did a better job of reading. Once you sit her, she has time to evaluate. I think she gets it a little bit better. We do need her on the floor because of the energy she gives and I love coaching her. Q. Jasmina, you had the first 11 points, or first 11 and 14 points for Colorado in the second half. Can you talk about that a little bit? JASMINA ILIC: I'm pretty sure they made a adjustment to double Jackie in the post so that would put out a little for me. Because they were helping and rotating so I was being open off Kara's screens. So I tried to knock those off. Q. Jackie, you seemed like you played one of those games today as a senior, don't want my career to be over. I mean, you had big numbers all year, but talk about the focus and you didn't want it to end today. JACKIE McFARLUND: No, I didn't. I think more than anything I was just really excited to be here at this tournament. We were the top seed for the first time since I've been here. I have a lot of friends and family that live here in Oklahoma City. You're right, I didn't want it to end. I have too many people here watching. It's been a good season. I think it will help us -- however we do in this tournament will help us into next year. Q. Coach, not too much time to enjoy this victory. Can you talk about the match up tomorrow with A&M? COACH McCONNELL-MILLER: You know, we do turn the ball over quite a bit. Their full court pressure is something we need to be concerned with. Not necessarily full court, just the amount of pressure that they put on the basketball. And for us it's key that we make sure we take care of it. And in the first half, I got the stat sheet. I think we had turned the ball over 10 times at that point. And I just explained to the ladies that we didn't even have an opportunity to score. We're not even in the game. We're basically giving it back to them. I said you're starting down 10 with the way we're turning the basketball over. So against A&M it's always a struggle. We feel like we have a pretty solid front line with Jackie, Jasmina and Kara. Most teams have to make adjustments for them with their personalities as well. Jackie, high-percentage shooter, and Jasmina is great with the basketball, and Kara is a great complement. We need our guards to step up and take care of the ball. Q. Going back to something you said at the beginning, you said key second-half adjustments you guys made. Can you talk about those, what were they? COACH McCONNELL-MILLER: Biggest thing I thought we were struggling with the on-the-ball screen, not necessarily on the wing but at the top of the key. I thought Murphree was getting in the lane and Christian was getting in the lane. If they weren't scoring, they were finding a scorer. We made an adjustment about the 10-minute mark to trap the ball, regardless of where they were on the screen on top. They struggled to get out of the pass on them a little bit. Should have taken a little bit more time. I thought we were more in tune on the defensive end. But that adjustment I thought gave us energy, got a few turnovers and that led to some scores on the offensive end. I think we talked a lot about how to guard Myrick and how to guard Edwards. Myrick is the player we try to eliminate her touches, and Robertson is one we don't give angles to. I didn't think we did a great job in the first 30 minutes of identifying personnel, but when we went back and reviewed it, we did a better job of that in the second half. Q. Jackie, did you realize during that game how many times you guys were turning it over or did you have to wait for the coach to point that out? JACKIE McFARLUND: I realized it in the first, especially in the first four minutes, I would think it was. I think we either had shots in the first, you know, five, ten seconds of the shot clock. We didn't get a shot off, I know. I was getting frustrated from a post point of view because me and Kara, I don't think we probably had shots in those first four minutes. And a lot of it was because of the turnovers, but I think we were just really, really excited at the beginning. It was a team that we knew it was a good match-up for us and we wanted to go out there and make the plays, and I think we forced a little too much. Q. Coach, after playing Texas Tech twice now, can you talk about the job that Kristy Curry has done with this Texas Tech team, what you expect to see her from her teams in the future? COACH McCONNELL-MILLER: I think she's a great coach, amazing recruiter. If you look at what her teams have done, I think she's phenomenal. I think she's going to be great. She's wonderful in the State of Texas as far as being received by recruits and high school coaches. Her style is just fight. She's like myself in that there's just -- the energy about her. If you were at the game in Boulder, it was a battle. It was 40 minutes, I think the score was 70-67, or 71-67. I think Kristy's great. I think her staff is wonderful. Starts with her recruiting and she's a great recruiter. MODERATOR: Congratulations. We look forward to seeing you guys tomorrow against A&M. End of FastScripts |
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