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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: BATON ROUGEMarch 21, 2008Meg DahlmanRachele FitzNikki FloresBrian GiorgisBATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA THE MODERATOR: Let's start by introducing the three student athletes from Marist: Meg Dahlman, Rachel Fitz and Nikki Flores and the head coach, Brian Giorgis. Coach, would you like to open it up? And then we'll open it up for questions. COACH GIORGIS: Sure. It is great to be in warm weather in Baton Rouge. I hope we're as good as the food. We're ready to go. Q. Coach, the past few years you have been there, the program you built at Marist, what does something like this mean not just for the athletic department but for the Marist community to have the school in the national spotlight like this? COACH GIORGIS: Well, it's obviously a dream of any coach to be able to have a team that can get to the tournament more than once and to be three years in a row and to get the highest seed we ever had is, you know -- you feel a tremendous amount of pride and confidence in your players and your staff, you know, for what they've accomplished. You know, we have a tremendous following with our school. It's kind of like Little Hoosiers in Poughkeepsie, New York. And to treat them to something like this, you know, is why you do it. Q. Just the past week of practice, how has it been, especially for the new players, the freshmen? How have they done with the hoopla of being here? COACH GIORGIS: They've enjoyed it. The one thing that has been our motto, no matter what happens, we are going to have fun doing it. We've had a lot of fun. We have been serious. You know, DePaul does a lot of great things so we've had a lot to focus on in practice. But in all our down time and stuff, I think our kids are really enjoying themselves. And it is a great atmosphere here at LSU. They are still waiting to see Mike, the Tiger, but we'll get that in at some point (laughter). Q. Speaking of the players, I was reading a story that you describe your coach as "tough but fair." Can you give me an example of that, of the "tough" part? MEG DAHLMAN: He expects a lot out of us. I don't really have an example per se. But he expects to us do certain things; and when we're not doing our job, he's going to yell at you. You're going to hear it because he knows your potential. NIKKI FLORES: He treats everybody the same, no matter if you are one of the starting five or you are the 12th or 13th girl coming off the bench. RACHELE FITZ: I just feel he is one person when you are on the court. When you're off the court, it is a different story. I feel like on the court he is our coach and that's what he is doing. He is coaching us and trying to make us the best we can be. Off the court, he is our friend and he is there for us if we need him for anything else outside of basketball. Q. Nikki and Meg, just being seniors, what does this whole experience mean to you? NIKKI FLORES: It's great. I don't think anybody thought we could get back to the tournament after losing Elise last year. So to be able to win max our senior year and to be able to travel for the first round of the NCAA tournament our senior year is a great way to start the beginning to the end, I guess. Sorry, had to say it. (Laughter). MEG DAHLMAN: I know like going undefeated in our conference is -- it means a lot to us and being able to finish it out by winning our conference championship and then traveling, obviously, to Louisiana. It would have been nice to go to Connecticut, have our fans there, but warm is always the better way to go (laughter). So traveling down here and, you know, being a No. 7 seed means a lot. It is a great way, as you said, beginning to the end, yeah. Q. Your last loss was to Hartford, and you're playing a Big East school. They're playing a Big East school. Do you feel a certain kinship with schools like that? COACH GIORGIS: I know myself I do because I'm good friends with Jen Rizzotti and her assistant coach, Brian, and her husband. We talk all the time. A couple years they won their first tournament game against Temple and last year we got to the Sweet 16. So we compare things in terms of the matchups. It is kind of like this game, we get DePaul, which is great shooting team. They get the more physical, rebounding, athletic group. Either way it is a Big East school that can play. And we know that, you know, we've got to be at our best to be successful. Q. Leading up to the past week, what have you seen about DePaul? How do you feel you are going to match up against them? RACHELE FITZ: They have great shooters, obviously, and they have really physical post-players, too. So I think it will be a good matchup, and it will give our defense a run for our money. But we're preparing for them. We're watching film. We're doing scouts and practicing what we do and what we have to do to win the game tomorrow. NIKKI FLORES: I think by film and stuff, they're a team that also likes to run. Like us, they get the pass out real quick after you make a shot, so we've been, like Meg said, practicing for that and preparing to maintain their speed and work with that full court. Q. Brian, it wouldn't be a total shock in the men's tournament if a No. 7 seed made it to the Final Four. But in the women's tournament, it seems much more difficult for anyone but the so-called top group, upper echelon teams to make it there. Do you think for the women's to really grow, you need to see more teams? Maybe the talent spread out a little more? And companion question to that, do you want your team to dream to making it all the way to Tampa or is that too much to focus on at this point? COACH GIORGIS: Our whole position, you know, we've been fortunate to be in four out of the last five years. And our position has been always been the same. We look at DePaul and that's what we look at. We don't talk about the next game or the game after that. You know the old cliche "one game at a time" becomes old; but for us to be successful, especially as a midmajor and you are going up against a BCS school, we know we have our hands full with DePaul. They are a great program. Anybody that can, you know -- we can't say that we've led UConn with three seconds to go. So when you are going up against somebody who has done that, you know you are going up against a quality opponent. We've just focused on DePaul. If we can get there, great. If we don't, I mean, it's been wonderful. But we've focused solely on DePaul, and we don't think about the Final Four or the Elite 8 or the Sweet 16 unless we're in that position to do it. Q. What about the game in general? COACH GIORGIS: The game in general -- in other words, is there parity as a 7 seed? I think it is a lot harder. And I think part of -- you know, it just always seems to be that way. Is it getting closer? Personally, I don't think so. You know, until women's start leaving after their sophomore year -- when Candace Parker came in, she was going to be there for four years. If it was like the men's side, she would be gone after a year and you would say phew. It is a whole different recruiting school because when the big schools get a quality, top-notch player like that, they have got her for four years. Until that starts to change or -- I don't know what else you can do, you know, to change it. I have been at the high school level. I have been at the college level and stuff, and there's just been that disparity for so long. It is getting closer. But how soon, I don't know. THE MODERATOR: Is there anything, Coach, you would like to add or any of your student athletes? COACH GIORGIS: Like I say, we're excited to be here. We know that we have an extremely formidable opponent in DePaul and if you're lucky to get by that, then you get, you know, more than likely LSU at home, not the easiest of tasks; but we like those type of things. We've always been a group that talks about firsts. This group has had, you know, a 30-win season, which was a first; to go undefeated in your conference, which was a first. And, you know, last year I think we kind of shocked the world in Palo Alto. If we can do that one more time here in Baton Rouge -- I know the Baton Rouge people won't be happy but if we could do that, that just helps our school, you know, and I've got a lot of confidence in these kids. End of FastScripts |
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