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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: BATON ROUGEMarch 24, 2008Lisa EtienneJennifer RizzottiBATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Hartford. Coach Rizzotti will have some introductory comments, then a session with the student-athletes. Coach, your opening comments, please. COACH RIZZOTTI: Well, obviously we ran into a defensive buzz saw tonight. The pressure that Texas A&M put on us was unlike anything we have seen and probably anything we would have been able to prepare for, even if we had a week. Just giving them a lot of credit for how hard they played and how they were able to maintain their intensity for 40 minutes was really impressive. We always talk to our kids if they want to go deep in the post-season, you have to do it with defense and rebounding. I certainly think Texas A&M has the same philosophy about defending to get them to advance. They proved that tonight. They were phenomenal. I'm proud of my kids and the season we had. 28 wins is the most we've ever had in the program's history. Although they're upset, which I'm glad they're upset we lost, when they look back and reflect on the year, for the seniors on their careers, they have a lot to be proud of. We accomplished a lot this year. Their hunger to try to get to the Sweet 16 was to me very impressive. Although we didn't play our best tonight, I know they gave a lot of effort. For the guys coming back, it's a great experience for us to learn from. Lastly, I know I'm going to make her more of a mess and she's probably not worth anything to anybody right now talking-wise, but I'm just proud of Danielle, what she has done and what she has meant. She's really been the face of the University of Hartford women's basketball program. Nobody has ever come through those doors and done what she's done as an individual. She's really taken our program to a whole 'nother level. Whatever we accomplish in the future, she will always be a big part of that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Lisa, talk about their defense tonight, how difficult it was to even get an entry pass into the post or anywhere on the court. LISA ETIENNE: As y'all saw, it really was that good. I mean, it was like 10 of 'em out there. It was so hard to get the ball into the wings. Couldn't get it to the post players. They were just everywhere. It was really hard. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. We'll excuse the student-athletes. Coach, we may have one or two more questions for you. Q. Jen, you had expressed some trepidations yesterday about points on turnovers. It was like 19-0 at halftime. What did you see out there that you could have done that you didn't? COACH RIZZOTTI: I felt like, you know, their defense to begin with was taking us out of our offense. But it also took us mentally out of the game. That's probably what I was most frustrated with. Even when we drew something up out of a timeout or talked about something at halftime to adjust to their pressure, I think our kids were so mentally flustered with their pressure and physicalness, they weren't even in the right spots. That's something I said to them. I can't help you score a basket if I draw something up and you run it wrong. That's a maturity thing. That's something that we'll have to get better at. But, again, it's hard to put them in that situation a lot. We played a pretty good non-conference schedule and were very successful against everybody but UConn in terms of playing against pressure. But no team we've played has been able to maintain their defensive intensity the way that Texas A&M did tonight. Not even close. I mean, even the UConn game, as good as they were, it was a different kind of mental breakdown. Tonight was just all about them physically staying in denial, pressuring us, taking away cuts, taking away passes for 40 straight minutes until the buzzer ended. Looking back and talking to the younger guys coming back, that will be our focus, is that we got to be able to still think the game and still mentally adjust when teams are outplaying us physically. That's something that I was probably most disappointed with tonight. THE MODERATOR: Coach, you've had a magnificent season. You have only three seniors on your team, lots of great things to look forward for. COACH RIZZOTTI: We'll be back. End of FastScripts |
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