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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: BATON ROUGE

March 21, 2008

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA

THE MODERATOR: We have from LSU student athletes Erica White, Quianna Chaney and Sylvia Fowles and the head coach of the LSU Tigers, Coach Van Chancellor.
Coach, would you like to open the press conference and then we'll go to questions.
COACH CHANCELLOR: We are thrilled to be hosting these eight teams.
Take the questions for the players. That's what we're all about.

Q. For the girls, I guess, try not to be as brief as your coach, talk about your thoughts heading into the start of play here. Are you excited to be here? Are you happy to see these other teams come in and know you have the home-court advantage?
SYLVIA FOWLES: I know from me personally, I am happy to be here. I can speak for the same for the teammates, just to be hosting these two games -- these last two games our last time here at LSU, I think is a thrill. I will get a kick out of it.
QUIANNA CHANEY: I agree with Sylvia. It is exciting. I can't wait for it to get kicked off.
ERICA WHITE: I am excited as well, and just happy for the area, the fact that we get to host these games is good for our fans. It is good for this area to see such good basketball and I'm really happy that we can be a part of it and be the host.
I think everyone is doing a great job. You know, so I'm excited.

Q. Coach, you don't have any pull to get this game tipped off a little earlier? What's up with 9:30? Does that make things more difficult to plan for?
COACH CHANCELLOR: I said since I came to LSU I have not let age be in my thought process. But when I was 44 years old, 9:30 at night was late. And at 64 years old, it is real late. I will probably come to the arena at halftime of the first game to take a little nap so I can get ready to play in the second game.
I would like to have played at 11:00 tomorrow and get it over with and I don't have to worry with it all day. I will say this, I did T.V. last year, I had this team in Austin, Texas. T.V. is just like taking candy away from a baby. It's easy. There is no pressure on you.
Coaching, at LSU, they don't want you to win but all the games. They are with you win or tie on the other ones. Just remember that.
SYLVIA FOWLES: It is a big adjustment for us because it is kind of late. We just got to keep ourself occupied throughout the day. But the time, I don't think it's going to be that big of an issue.
COACH CHANCELLOR: 9:30 at night is perfect for players. That's when they go out when they are not playing ball. Are you kidding me? Let's get serious. It takes them all of that time to get ready to go out.
You didn't know I knew that, did you, Q? I coached pro players. You forgot, that didn't you?

Q. How do you structure the day with the game being so late?
SYLVIA FOWLES: I don't know yet. I guess I will see tomorrow. But just try to keep myself occupied. I mean, I know me, personally, I like to think a lot about the game and that's not always a good thing for me. So I will probably do something that I like doing, just to relax me for a while.
QUIANNA CHANEY: For me, it would be the normal game-day routine, just extend it a little bit longer.
COACH CHANCELLOR: You got a thought, Erica? You had a thought about everything else all year; you ought to have a thought about this.
ERICA WHITE: Thanks, Coach. We will have early-morning shoot-around. Probably get lunch together as a team. For me, personally, just get back to my room and probably watch some basketball, get some rest, get off my feet. You know, probably take a little nap, like Coach said, and get up about 7:00 -- no, no, no. I will probably head over here and watch some basketball all day. So I will be in the stands all day. Just be ready to play at 9:00.

Q. Quianna, there was a lot of talk about this when you played your last regular season home season. But this really is coming down to the end, this is the last weekend. Your thoughts are a lot on the NCAA tournament and trying to advance, but are there some thoughts about this is really the last couple of games here at LSU for you?
QUIANNA CHANEY: I guess -- I mean, I am not trying to think about it like that. I am just going to go out there and enjoy myself. If you look at it, it is going to be the last couple games we have here. So, I mean, just going to go out there and have fun and play the game of basketball like it is supposed to be played.
COACH CHANCELLOR: Q is not thinking about any of that, Scott. She is thinking about where her next shot's coming from. You don't know Q that well. She ain't thought about any of that.
You know that's true, Sylvia, too.

Q. You're seniors, you've been 1 or 2 seed every time, you've won these opening round games pretty easily. You just come off an intense SEC conference and tournament. You look ahead to the tournament. How do you get yourself focused and so forth for a game that from the outside would look like you are supposed to win by 30 or 40 points?
ERICA WHITE: You get focused, because this team knows it is not about our opponent and it is usually about us and how we play. You want to come out and play good basketball tomorrow regardless as to who the opponent is because you want to build that momentum throughout the tournament. That's the focus tomorrow, to come out and play hard, play smart and play good basketball so it will carry over game to game.
SYLVIA FOWLES: I kind of agree with Erica, too. Then you got to think about our opponent. They are going to come out and play hard, they ain't going to give up without a fight. So we looking forward to them coming out with a lot of energy and be ready to play. So it is not like you overlooked the opponent, but you got to be ready for everything that they throw at you.
QUIANNA CHANEY: I agree with both of these ladies. Everybody is going to come out and try to play their best, so you just got to be focused and go out there and play.

Q. Obviously in practice you are doing game awareness, clock management-type drills, and that's been important in the bigger games you've played. Talk about the focus on that and maybe not tore tomorrow but for the rest of the tournament. Did you see it pay off?
COACH CHANCELLOR: When we came back from the SEC tournament, we thought we'd have ten practices, days off and different things. We've had game situations every day. I think practice at this time of year, when you have off that much can become monotonous, and especially with eight seniors. They've been down here, done that. There's not one drill they ain't run 1,336 times. So they get tired of it.
So we tried to put in a lot of -- be up one with two minutes to go or be down three with 17 seconds to go and see who could win the game. I thought that has gone really, really well for us. I've really -- I think our team has learned -- if I had anything, I probably would have -- I did some of it before. I should have done more of it before. I thought during this time it worked out really well.
QUIANNA CHANEY: I agree with Coach. Several times, couple games I had a chance to either do a couple things at the end of the game and either shot the ball too early and just wasn't -- decision-making was poorly. It was a good chance to really see -- practice on it and see what the clock difference and just work on the things like that. It was a pretty good idea.

Q. I'm wondering, Coach, what you do -- like Ted was saying, these guys have been so good for so long. Now right when you are about to play, ESPN says on Selection night that they think LSU should be No. 1. And I go home, there's my "Sports Illustrated" and there is a huge color page photo of Sylvia and a picture of Q. Wouldn't it be easy for them to skate this weekend and look to New Orleans?
COACH CHANCELLOR: You know, the great advantage of playing at home -- I think there is an advantage. The great advantage is your fans won't let you do that. These fans are so rabid and interested in this team.
And this team is not -- you go back and look at it, they played 14 times in the SEC, it beat one team 50. It beat one team 41. It beat three teams more than 30. And in those games we played everybody.
The last problem that LSU women's basketball team is -- is to overlook somebody. This is the most serious-minded team I've ever seen. I don't think they'll overlook anyone. We've not had a game that I thought overlooking them was a problem all year. We beat some teams really bad. We beat Ole Miss in the SEC tournament after beating them here pretty good in the tournament. And usually that doesn't happen.
They are going to play Saturday night. They're going to play -- if they win that game, they'll play again. They're just going to play. Just that mind-set. They have the greatest mind-set of any team I have ever been around.
I would like for them to have a little more fun, but I've tried all year and that's not -- it's working to a degree, but it's a great team to be around every day. They're going to practice today like it was the first day of practice. They will practice for 50 minutes today. I guarantee you that. They're going to practice hard. They will going to shoot around hard tomorrow for 20 minutes. They don't do anything they don't do pretty hard.

Q. Coach, you talked about the time off of the SEC game and this tournament. You were out of the college game for so long, are there things that you are still learning, having to come back as memory from the past experience this year? Something like that, along that line?
COACH CHANCELLOR: It don't seem like it was as long as you seem to think it was, okay? I don't mean that bad. It seems like it was yesterday.
As far as the college experience, that kind of come back like if you hadn't ridden a bike in ten years. I just jumped on the bike and started riding. The only thing I had any trouble with was just learning this team offensively. I left it alone defensively. I just experimented with some things, and I think that cost us the Rutgers game, in my mind, I really do. I went with some things that I should not have changed, I went back and rechanged.
But as far as coming in here and being all -- I thought the best thing that had ever happened to me at Ole Miss was the two weeks off. We had to just struggle so hard to make it, to get in the tournament. We weren't like LSU. We didn't have these three players all the time.
So when we got in, we would take days off and I thought this time off just regenerated my energy. I just loved this two weeks off. A lot of coaches gripe about not playing. I think it is the greatest thing I could do.
By tomorrow night, these players will have practiced so much, they will be ready tomorrow night. Don't worry about that. I like it. It rests you. You get to study the other teams. You get to feel better. The season -- coaching in the SEC just drags on you. Night after night you got to go to Knoxville, you got to play there. You got to go to Georgia, you got to play Vandy. That will wear on you. So the two weeks off where you can prepare and don't have to play a game is really good.

Q. Girls, can you talk about this, and then, Van, I want your thoughts, your senior season, the eight of you have been together for so long. You have been through so much, had so much success. Along comes a 64-year-old guy, kind of ruining --
COACH CHANCELLOR: I was 63 at the time. I thought I would tell you.

Q. Just talk about him fitting in and how did he find his way in, because obviously with the eight of you all going through so much, you are pretty tight. You said the year has been special because of the closeness you have found. Talk about letting him in. And then, Van, talk about finding your way through the waters?
COACH CHANCELLOR: You don't have to lie much, much.
SYLVIA FOWLES: It wasn't hard adjusting to him and the things that he wanted within this program. I can remember the first time I came back from New York, just during the tryout thing with the USA team and my first time meeting him and everything. He explained to us what he wanted to do.
But for the most part, I don't adjusting to him. He adjusted to us. He is not all that kind of lame. He is a good dude. He is funny. He keep us rolling.
QUIANNA CHANEY: Like she said, he fits right in, us adjusting to him. I think he is a good thing that has happened to this program to have Coach Chancellor here. It has been wonderful thus far. This is a good team.
COACH CHANCELLOR: You better say something good with as much shots as I've got you this year. Those other two, I could have understood it if they would have held back. But I've got you every shot you could humanly get. You are firing electrically from anywhere.
ERICA WHITE: Coach Chancellor is a genuine guy from the day he got here. He met with all of us individually and told us where he wanted to take the program and what he thought we needed to do to better ourselves and to take this program to another level. That's what he keeps saying, he wants to take this program to another level.
He fit right in because he was so genuine. He knew about us from day one. He watched a lot of film on us and he is just a real caring guy. So he was great for our group from day one.
COACH CHANCELLOR: Going back, one of the reasons I didn't have as much adjustment to the college game -- to your question -- I did T.V. for two people for Fox and ESPN at this time. So I was around the college game all the time, and I did the SEC tournament. Then I was doing this team in Austin, Texas, at this time last year, never dreaming I would be here today. I thought I would be on a golf course.

Q. Sylvia, you said on media day, though, you guys sometimes couldn't understand him and that he once lost his temper and made you guys run suicides. You were all looking at each other and going, we don't even know what you said.
SYLVIA FOWLES: This was at camp. We did camp in the summer. He told us to demonstrate and get up to the campus. We didn't understand or react too quickly and he did make us run in front of the campus. It has gotten better.
COACH CHANCELLOR: Sylvia, you might not be telling them in front of the NCAA person. I'm not sure about that.

Q. Erica, I was wondering about your toe and RaShonta's ankle seems a little tweaked. How are you guys physically going into the tournament?
ERICA WHITE: I'm fine. The injury I got in the tournament was this injury that I needed a rest and I got a lot of rest last week. This week was testing a lot of different things out in my shoe to make sure my toe was comfortable. I am at about 90 percent. I am feeling good and happy that I was able to get that rest last week and I feel better now.
I am definitely ready to play, and I'm sure our trainer, Mickey, is doing a great job of taking care of RaShonta's as well. I think we are both fine right now.

Q. Q, talk about what Coach was saying about the number of shots you've gotten this year. How fun has that been and how much has that improved your game?
QUIANNA CHANEY: I'm going to start with the confidence Coach gave me. When first got here, he was, like, you know, you need to have the confidence you are the best shooter in the SEC and all that type of stuff.
Once I got the confidence thing down pat and got in the gym and try to shot some shoots pretty early before practice and after practice, it came pretty easily.
With the changes he changed in the motion offense, I was able to get shots. It's cool, I guess.
SYLVIA FOWLES: That's the thing about Coach Chancellor, his energy level is outrageous. He will tell you everything you want to hear to make you think you are that thang. I think that's what he did with Q. That's why she takes as many shots as she does.

Q. Q., how did you feel about the break you y'all had?
QUIANNA CHANEY: It was wonderful. Like Erica said, get a chance to relax with her toe and take care of the minor things, minor aches and pains our team had.
It was a good chance to sit back and work on the things we needed to work on and watch a couple tapes and watch film and see what we need to work on. It was pretty good. It was nice.

Q. Do you ever just stop and, I can't believe she is shooting from there?
SYLVIA FOWLES: No. I remember my first time meeting Q. We was at McDonald's All-American. She got in the bleachers and she went, like, five rows up and she was like, I bet I can make this shot. I was like, Q, you cannot shoot that far. That was our first time meeting each other. And she shot the ball and I ran out of the gym. I said this girl did not just shoot this ball.
But that's Q. She does it all the time and she challenges herself. It is not a surprise to us.

Q. Did it go in?
COACH CHANCELLOR: Yes.
ERICA WHITE: It is no surprise Q pull it from long range. Usually I miss it, I am throwing the pass. She shoots the ball so quick, I just see it going through the net. I never really get to check where her feet are. I get to the bench and my teammates are like, did you see what she shot?
It is no surprise to me. She just puts it up and it usually goes in.

Q. Didn't y'all practice cutting down the nets for the Final Four coming up this year? Didn't y'all do that? It leads to my question, how long has it been a mind-set of trying to get there and get forward, not just with this first game, a lot of teams focus on the first game. You guys have won first games, second, third, fourth game. How much is it part of the mind-set of getting into the tournament and getting all the way this time?
ERICA WHITE: Coach is a winner, he's proven that, WNBA and USA Basketball. I think the first day he got here, like I said, he has been focused on us taking us to the next level. Championship is the next level he is talking about.
Like he said, from day one, he got here we cut down the nets as a team. He said, we won't do that again unless we are cutting down the nets for the national championship.
In that moment he was trying to instill in us a mentality that we're here to win this from day one. And every year, we win the regional -- we win our regional game and we cut down the nets and we celebrate. And I pray that we win this year. But we probably won't cut down that net. We're looking for a national championship net this time around.
So I think he is just trying to change our mentality about winning.
COACH CHANCELLOR: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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