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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2008Mallary GillespieJeff JudkinsLauren RileyLAS VEGAS, NEVADA THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you want to begin with some opening remarks on the game. COACH JUDKINS: Well, we didn't play very well the first half. I was real proud of my team the second half. Coming back, we kind of had an opportunity to cut it down to single digits, and just couldn't seem to make the play or get the ball to bounce one way for us. But I'm proud of this team because we've gone through a lot this year. We've lost some close games. We've played a very difficult schedule throughout the year. I don't know, some years it just doesn't click. And this year just some things didn't go our way. But I always thought we gave an effort. I felt like that we tried to do the things that we needed to. And I'm very proud of my seniors. I'm sure this is not the way they wanted to leave, but they have been a big part of BYU's success. And they should be proud of their careers and what they've accomplished. I know each of them will be very successful in their life because of their basketball experience and also going through the good and the bad. One thing I did say to them, and I really meant it, is no matter win or lose, these seniors have been, to me, very classy and professional and have respected their opponent. And I think that, as a coach, is one of the biggest things you want your players to be able to achieve, is to be able to do that. And I'm very proud of them. I wish it would have been better. These two deserve better. And I'm very proud of them. And New Mexico played a very good game. Very good balanced scoring tonight. We really wanted to take Marsh out of the game, which we did. But you got to give credit to Kimble and Beggin and Harthill. Those three came in and played very well tonight. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, coach. Q. Can you two just kind of reflect on your career at BYU and this being your final game, kind of what it's meant, and going out this year? MALLARY GILLESPIE-CARLING: We've had a great career here. We won back-to-back championships our sophomore and junior years. Freshman year took second or third in the conference, second I think in the conference. This year we struggled a little bit. But, you know, we felt like we had good successful years here. And we're hoping that we left a good example and for the younger kids underneath us. You know, we hope they can come out and I truly and honestly believe they're going to come out and work really hard this summer and have a great year next year. They got the staff and the support behind them. And we're excited for them. You know, this game meant a lot and we were hoping to -- you know, we came out and battled and gave it our all and left it all on the court. The ball just didn't roll our way and we just didn't get those breaks. But at least I can say that I'm grateful for my time here at BYU and the time I've had to play here in the Mountain West Conference. It's been an honor and thank you. LAUREN RILEY-VARLEY: It's definitely been a humbling experience this year. There's been so many times where we just kept thinking, Okay, this is it, this is the game where it's all going to turn around. And it just never seemed to click for us for some reason. Just the mix of experience and inexperience, I'm not sure why. I don't know. It's been hard. But it's been a life lesson not just in basketball but it's been something that we've learned about life and just pushing through it and you can't just give up. And, you know, I think we'll come out better people, all of us, from Juddy to anybody on the team. I think the coaches said it in their little meeting just then. They said they're better coaches because of this. I truly believe they're going to be and we'll be better people. And we'll take our life experiences and we'll remember the good times because we've had a lot of great times since we've been here and just move on. THE MODERATOR: Ladies, thank you very much. Q. Coach, just talk about the turnovers, how crucial. That kind of didn't help your cause obviously and that wasn't the only factor but pretty key factor? COACH JUDKINS: Yeah, you know, I think this year turnovers has been a big part of why we haven't been as successful as we've been in the past. I know last two years our turnover ratio was one of the top in the league. This year it was the bottom. There's a lot of reasons for it. I think one reason is I'm playing Mindy Neilson, who was not a point guard in high school, never played it. I'm playing her at point, and she's a freshman and doesn't understand a lot of things. And I think some of her turnovers are because of just not knowing the position well enough and trying to make the play. Then I think what happens is it kind of like snowballs and gets to Mallary. Like I see tonight Mallary had six turnovers. I know this year Mallary tried to create a lot of things because we didn't have a lot of scoring punch. So she tried to create more opportunities. I think by that, it made her turn the ball over a little bit more than she wanted to. Mallary was a great passer. And I think this year was just trying to make the play, to try to make the easy play. I'm not using excuses. I think this is going to help Mindy personally for next season. To be able to have a kid that played point, next year she won't play point. I'll have Haley and Jazmine. I think Jazmine will be ready. No matter what team you're on, I don't care what it is, you can't -- a point guard in the women's basketball game is so important. I told Dick this before the game, and it's so important, to handle the tempo, to get your team in the offense. Very few teams can have a freshman point guard and really expect to be that good. You don't see it. You just don't see it that often. Utah has a five-year senior, Wyoming has experience, TCU has experience. That's why those teams won. I mean there's really no secret to it. Q. Jeff, what kind of lessons has this kind of season taught you as a coach? COACH JUDKINS: Well, you know, we have had inside presence since I've been here. That's something that I really focused on as a coach. And this year we just didn't score the ball in the post as well as we have in the past. And so next season I got to find somebody, either some of these freshmen that I've got sitting out here or Cassie King, and get them to be able to get low post presence. If I can't get it out of them, I'm -- I guarantee one of these freshman I sign, the three or four freshmen I sign this year, three of them are big, I'll get one of them to do it. You have to have inside presence in this offense that we run. Secondly, what I am going to do is, hopefully, I'm going to try to get my team where we -- you know, a lot of coaches in this game don't play motion any more. There's a lot of reasons for it. It's difficult. It takes you a while to learn it. And you get two players out of five that don't know what they're doing and it affects the other three. And so I've got to really work hard on our motion and get it down where we can execute and do a better job with that. I think Haley will help a lot because of ball pressure and getting the center offense. The last two games of the season I really felt Jazmine has gotten a lot better. And she'll work hard and do it. I don't know if you noticed, we had a lot of times tonight, four freshmen in there. The best thing about a freshmen is they'll turn to be sophomores the next year. I really think that will help us. And we're hopefully going to be able to go over to Europe next year, give us seven games, five to seven games next year. I think that will help us also. Q. Jeff, there was a point in the second half they hit a three-pointer on the shot clock winding down, made it like 42-23, and you seemed to shake your head. If you think about just your coaching career, are there times when it's going bad, it's going bad, and when it's going good sometimes you catch some breaks the other way? COACH JUDKINS: I think so. I think that's why I was shaking my head, is because we have lost -- I've seen more baskets this year going in with a shot clock going down and hitting a three this year than I've ever seen in my life. That's kind of why I shook my head, like here's another dagger in the ol' heart. And it's just been that kind of way. I think Mallary and Riley have said it: When we needed to make a play or we had the ball bounce one way, it just seem to go the opposite way. I told my team, Sometimes you are the ones that have to make that ball bounce that way for you. What I mean by that is that you continually work on the things that you need to and execute. If I could say one thing this year with the team that I think we really got to do better, and that is we've got to execute better. I think that has been one of my strengths as a coach, is my teams have executed down the end of the games, both offensively and defensively. And this year we just didn't seem to quite do that. Some games we did, but we didn't do it as consistently as we should have. And, you know, as I look at this stat sheet and it's been this way the whole year. You see three players on New Mexico scoring double figures. And I got one on my team. Last year and the year before that we had three. 27 of our 30 games last year we had three people in double figures. This year I can't count it on my hand when we had three players score double figures in the game. So we've got to do a better job of being more balanced with it. I don't know if -- sometimes when players leave, other players step up to the plate and take that responsibility. I saw it with 'Brosia her senior year. When some other people left, she really stepped it up. I've seen it on really other teams. Hopefully these young kids will be able to understand that and do it. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, coach. Appreciate it. COACH JUDKINS: Thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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