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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: SPOKANEMarch 28, 2008Agnus BerenatoMercedes WalkerMallorie WinnShavonte ZellousSPOKANE, WASHINGTON THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with an opening statement from coach. COACH BERENATO: I can't see you. Now I can see you. I just want to say thank you to all of you for being here today. It's exciting. It's not only exciting for Pittsburgh, but also for the other teams that are present. And to be in the Sweet 16 is awe inspiring. And some people you dream about it your whole life and some people, coaches and players, student-athletes, they go through their whole life and they never achieve this. So it's with great pleasure and joy and excitement that we're very, very happy to be here for our women's basketball program, for the athletic department, for the university, and our community. Because Pittsburgh is a blue collar city, and I think our team is a blue collar team. We're a hard working team and there's a couple individuals in particular that really makes our heart smile for. And that is our chancellor, Mark Nornenberg who really had great vision five years ago and belief. And then there's two ladies, Carol Sprague is the main reason that I would say I'm probably at Pittsburgh. She believed in me and she believed in my family. And then she's been at Pitt I think like 34 years. And another lady, Donna Sand has been at Pitt for 34 years. They have never experienced this. And they have worked every year and they have believed in the team every year. And Carol Sprague was even on the NCAA Selection Committee for five years and I can't even imagine what it would be like to be on a selection committee and never even think about your team Pitt being up on the board. I can't even imagine that. So for her I'm really glad she's not on the committee, I'm glad that she's here. I don't know that she's been able to enjoy it yet because it's been a helatious ride and a lot of stuff to do. But we're excited. We got here because the team believed in us and we believed in our team. And I think any time you have blind faith, anything is possible. And we have worked hard, we have had our ups and downs and we have had a lot of downs this year and a lot of situations that really could have held us back, but we weren't deterred. We have had great highs, every day we are here and every day we're able to go to practice is a wonderful day, it's a gift. I think we have to celebrate that. So we're just happy to be here. And for Spokane to host this regional is awesome. We have heard tremendous things and since the minute we stepped off the plane the hospitality has been nothing but glorious. And I just want to say to all the people, whether it's been our hosts, at the restaurants, the arenas that, we have used some different gyms already, you guys have been awesome and we want to just say thanks in advance. THE MODERATOR: All right. Questions for coach? Q. Coach Balcomb is from Jersey, your assistant Lisa was at one of your basketball camps? COACH BERENATO: Hell, she went to my school. We were at the same high school. Don't minimize it. Q. Could you talk about the Jersey presence here in Spokane? COACH BERENATO: Yeah, we love it. Jersey girls, there's a play or something out, Jersey Boys, everyone keeps telling me about that, forget that. It's Jersey girls. Melanie's awesome. Melanie's, she's a terrific coach. I really admire her. And Lisa, she's, she went to Glouster Catholic, she's from my hometown Glouster, which is really a blue collar town and she was a blue collar kid. And it's just really exciting having had the opportunity to see them since they have been here, but I did spend some time a little bit of time with them in Albuquerque, and whenever I see them of course I think that we all make each other laugh and smile because people that aren't from where we're from really have -- y'all don't have a clue. And it's just great. It will be really great if the Jersey girls rule and we get to the Elite 8. I think that would be really fun. Q. Your schedule, how do you think playing the schedule you did helps prepare you for a game like Stanford and did you intentionally schedule teams like Duke and Maryland with the NCAA tournament in mind? COACH BERENATO: Absolutely, Ray. And it's good to see you here. I'm really happy that you made the trip. So thank you for the time and effort. Absolutely, we really scheduled up and there was a time and it didn't hit me until February that I thought I was crazy because we went through a really helatious part of the schedule in February where we played I think it was five of seven teams were in the top 15 in the nation. And we weren't ranked in the top 15. And we took some dips. So of course everybody immediately, media and the community probably across the country were like, "Well we knew Pitt wasn't that good anyway" and we were just like, whatever. But we scheduled early on non-conference. We went up to Penn State and had a really tough schedule up there. We played Penn State, we played Greensboro, who is, or Charlotte I think at Charlotte, who usually goes to the tournament. And then we played Arizona. And then we went to Madison Square Garden and we played Duke when they were ranked sixth in the country, Maggie Dixon Classic and lost to them on a last second shot. They scored with 1.2 seconds and won by two. And then we played Maryland at Maryland and we lost by 13 there. And I think that people would think oh my gosh what are you doing, but we definitely had it in mind for the NCAA. Last year we scheduled so that, we really wanted to be in the tournament and for 20 wins, on track for that. This year we thought we had a veteran team so I needed to schedule up for seeding. But it did get to be a point where, I'll be honest with you, we were really stressed. We had 18 wins and it was almost like, "Oh, my god, are we going to get two more wins", and even though our RPI and strength of schedule were in the Top-20 as a coach you put tremendous pressure on yourself. The second part was we scheduled our games on road and if you notice we only had 11 home games. And eight of those games had to be conference. We didn't play our first home game until December 6. I think December 5 or 6. Which is ludicrous in essence, but for us we always talked about the tournament this is what it's like we're going to have to be on the road and weather the storm. So I think that definitely it has helped us. Q. Can you expand on that schedule a bit in terms of the Big East has done very well in this tournament this year. Can you talk about playing that conference schedule how it's prepared you to reach this point. COACH BERENATO: Well I think that again it's really wonderful to see five of our teams in the Sweet 16. I only had pre- algebra so I don't know percentage wise what that is. But 38 percent. My sons and daughters will die if they hear me say this. But it's a really great percentage I think. That's terrific. And I would say we without a doubt probably are the top conference right now in representing. And for us we had to play those teams all the time. And we had to play West Virginia twice. And West Virginia was, got ranked in the Top-10 at one point. And so again I just think that in our conference and we believed there was so many teams that could have come to this tournament and competed. But they didn't have the wins because we beat everybody else up. They just didn't get the wins. But they're either in the NIT or even a team like Marquette, like Marquette is a really good team. St. John's is a really good team. They didn't make it to the big dance because wins and losses. And in essence that's it. And I think that when we come out and we're not -- we play Connecticut twice. Connecticut is number one in the nation and I think Connecticut is a really, really, really good team and I've said, if Connecticut, if we don't win the National Championship, you know, I hope Connecticut does. I think they're going to win it. And that's exactly how I feel. They're that good. So we have already played them twice, and we played all the other teams, we played West Virginia, when they were ranked I think 12 and we beat them and we beat Notre Dame who is ninth in the nation. And we beat DePaul when they were 15. And we beat Louisville who is in the Sweet 16 right now. And you know, I just think that -- and then we played Rutgers we lost to them they were fourth in the nation, we lost to them by four points without Mercedes Walker. You know, we lost to some of those teams but they're here. They're representing. So I feel like for my team you know, I mean I don't know how they can look at anyone and be intimidated because as long as you're not Connecticut, we feel like we have a chance. And that's the truth. Q. You're obviously thrilled to be here how do you sort of change gears with your team so that they're not just happy to be hear; and then the second question would be can you just talk about Stanford a little bit and the game that you've got coming up? COACH BERENATO: There's no changing gears because our goal was to be here the whole time. We're not surprised that we are here. I know y'all are surprised we are here but we're not. When we left Pittsburgh back last Wednesday we packed for this trip. We knew that -- I mean we had our itineraries set and the kids knew that they needed to pack straight through for Spokane. I told my coaching staff to bring four good outfits for coaching. So we had a plan, we had our itineraries straight through. It wasn't like after we beat Baylor we were jumping up and down and going, "What do we do now, do we go home or not." I mean it was sad. I mean we're a very, very happy, but you know we are here to win and we are here to we feel like we can compete with Stanford. To address your second part of the question, we feel that Stanford has a great team and they have a great coach. I think Tara does a great job and obviously she's a legend in our game. And I think that the one thing that Stanford has and Stanford has unbelievable tradition they have a deep and rich tradition. And when you look at, I'm educated and you're educated to the game and they have won a National Championship and they have been to four Final Fours and they have been 1932, you know, Elite 8s and Sweet 16s and all that other stuff, but my kids don't know that. My team, they don't know that. But my team, it like, so for us it's a game. You see, it's a game. And we have been taking it just like in segments, game by game by game by game. And I think that Candice Wiggins, she's awesome, she's tremendous, she's a, she's one of the better guards in the country, one of the best guards in the country. But I saw Candice Wiggins play when I went out to San Diego and recruited Mallorie Winn, we have a girl, Mallorie Winn from the Bishop School, and they played each other that game that I saw, and Mall's team beat Candice's. But Candice was everything and she was all that and a box of chocolates and player of the year and this and that. But Mall's team won. So I was fortunate to see her and now how fitting that they're seniors and they're playing against each other. I just think that's really cool. I don't know that that could have ever been planned. So again I think Appel is an awesome post player, I think she gets better and better and better and better every game. I think that Pedersen is really, she's the glue, she's the X factor to their team. She makes great passes, high low, she can take it from the outside, you know. So I mean they have a good team, but I think everyone in the Sweet 16 right now has a good team. Everybody has an All-American. We have Mercedes Walker, everybody has defensive Player of the Year. So we have, you know at this point you throw the ball up and you hope that it's a great game. Q. Can you compare and contrast Stanford for Connecticut having played them twice and talk about what it was like to be celebrating your victory over Baylor and watching Candice Wiggins score 44 while you were doing that? COACH BERENATO: That was a non-factor. We weren't watching her score 44. I'll be honest with you, that's what you have videotape for. Our scout team was, she was like, I have to go back to the hotel and because Stanford's on TV. And I said no you're not going back to the hotel that's what we have VCRs for and we taped the game and tonight, you know what, we're going to the Sweet 16 and you're going to have dinner with the team. And that's I just really believe that you celebrate the moment and tomorrow morning it will come really, really quick and we'll start working on our scouts as we are. But you know, Candice, she scored 44, and she's capable of that. And I think if you look at their run, you know, they were able to beat that team fairly easily. So um, as far as comparing and contrasting Connecticut and Stanford, about the only thing they have in common is that they run the triple post and they're both pretty good at it. I feel very fortunate in that we have played Connecticut twice and they run the same offense and so I mean Shay played for Connecticut, she's our scout, she's, you know, last night I mean in watching my practice I thought for a second well maybe my team should play triple post in, they're doing pretty good with it. So I'm not a triple post girl, but at the same time, you know, they run, they run a really nice set and they both have inside outside. But again I think when you get to this point everyone has inside outside, everybody can hit the 3-point shot, you know, it's, um, it comes down to intangibles. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much. Good luck in the tournament. COACH BERENATO: Thank you. And thank you for being here and keep writing about our game because it's the only way our game is going to grow. THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll take questions for the student-athletes now. Q. Can you guys just talk about how the non-conference schedule the games against Duke and Maryland and then the Big East schedule prepared you for a game against Stanford, which has won 20 games in a row. MALLORIE WINN: I think that the Big East is a really competitive conference and I also think the coaches had a purpose in us playing some of the top teams in the preseason such as Duke and Maryland. And I think that definitely prepares us for this tournament. So I don't think we're going in with any kind of intimidation, I think that our schedule has prepared us to the fullest. SHAVONTE ZELLOUS: Mallorie said it all. Q. Marcedes, can you talk about your matchup with Jayne Appel tomorrow night? MARCEDES WALKER: It's going to be a really tough matchup, a really good matchup. You know, I seen her play a couple times on TV and she really did what she had to do for her team to win games and I think that's what I have to do going into the game, I got to stay out of foul trouble and really help my team and I just, I'm just up for the challenge. I played against Kia Vaughn and all them caliber teams and all them good caliber players in the Big East and it's just another challenge and I'm up for it. Q. Getting back to that tough schedule y'all had this year your coach talked about there was some down times this year, some tough losses. Can you talk about how you kept your composure from those losses and kept the big picture in mind knowing that ultimately it would help you get to this point? SHAVONTE ZELLOUS: We just had to come together as a team, having I think we were down four losses or five losses back to back to ranked teams and that was ranked in the top 15. So we just had to come together as a team and keep our cool and knowing that we are still a good team and some teams have downfalls and that was our biggest down fall and now we're up on our peak. MARCEDES WALKER: It was tough having them tough losses. We did have an up-and-down season. Some games that we lost we thought that we wasn't supposed to lose and that's what teams go through. You're not going to win them all. I think that the best thing is now we are on top of our game and we're in the Sweet 16. So I think that right about now all the teams that's out there right now is the good teams and they know they're on the top of their game. So we just have to show it tomorrow. MALLORIE WINN: We did have some up-and-downs, and I think that the great thing about the NCAA tournament is that really none of that matters. Every game is your last. Who you lost to and how much you lost by and who you won or who you beat and how much you won by doesn't really doesn't matter. That's the great thing about this tournament. And we are on top of our game now, like Marcedes says. Q. Some of us here don't really know anything about you guys and your coach and this is the first time we have seen your coach. And she seems like a lot of fun a live wire and stuff, can you guys tell us more of what she's like behind the seasons, is she kind at that of a butt kicker or is she always fun or what? Gentleman she's a lot of everything. (Laughter.). MARCEDES WALKER: She's crazy, she's outgoing, she's behind the scenes, I ain't going to say nothing, but, it's just like we just love playing for her. I think that sometimes we get mad at her just like she get mad at us, but in the long run we love her to death and she's our coach and I think that the way that she is the way this program can explain this program, because I know that she always talked about being how she was out going and stuff like that and how she wanted want the players to be courteous to other people and I think that she really, like the players really bought into her, because I think that sometimes we act crazy sometimes we, like I know a lot of times when we do media we're outgoing and I think that really comes from our coach and we always, and we love her to death for that. SHAVONTE ZELLOUS: I think Marcedes said it the best. Behind the scenes we ain't going to say nothing, but, she is an outgoing person and she's very happy and right now she's uppity up because we're in the Sweet 16. But we all love her for that. So I think she said it the best. MALLORIE WINN: She's pretty much always outgoing and she does drink a lot of coffee in the morning. (Laughter.) So, but just like any coach, she's tough on us and there's times when she, she's always going to support us. There's times where she's tough on us, but just like any coach she has her moments where she's kind of mean, you know. But Coach B has done a lot for this program and to draw a lot of attention and support for our program. So we do love her and we appreciate her. Q. For the seniors, coming in the program didn't have a lot of tradition, didn't have a lot of wins. What made you think it was possible to do that at Pitt? MARCEDES WALKER: I think that it came from like the head coach down to the coaching staff and the administrators. I can speak for like when we came in as far as like me and, well we're all seniors right here, it's just Shavonte and Jania on the court, but I know that everybody really believed in Coach B and the staff and what they were trying to do with this program as far as turning it around. And we would never think like you can always say that you want to come into a program and change it around, but for it to change around each year that we have been there is, it was like pretty exciting. I know that Coach B was like the big part of it and Coach Williams and Coach Shay, because if you didn't recruit good players to come in and really like dedicate themselves to working hard on the court and being competitors every night, I think that like this program wouldn't be where it's at. So I think that by them getting these caliber players here and really willing to work hard, this program was able to change around. MALLORIE WINN: I knew them before I came to Pittsburgh so it wasn't like I was coming into anything new. They recruited me at Georgia Tech. I knew what kind of coaches they were and I knew their standards and I knew that they wanted to come to Pittsburgh and recruit players that were accustomed to winning in high school. So I knew that as long as you started as they started improving their caliber of players that the program would grow and that's what it's done. Q. Mallorie, can you just talk about your recollections of playing against Candice Wiggins in high school, coach mentioned you played against each other and she was recruiting you. And for all three of the players if you can just talk about how this triple post offense they run is similar to Connecticut's and how much playing Connecticut helps you and in having someone who played at Connecticut coaching you an and teaching you can help you prepare for that. MALLORIE WINN: I played against Candice about six years ago. (Laughter.) But Candice, she's a very good player. She was very good in high school. Coach B said earlier, she was all everything, all counties all that kind of stuff. Yeah, it really, it's not really about me and her. It's really just about us knowing our game plan and I think we have a great scout against Stanford and understanding that Candice is the focal point of their team, so we really do need to pay attention to her and make a great effort to limit what she can do in this game. MARCEDES WALKER: I think that, I know Coach B stressed the fact that Mallorie played against Candice her senior year and it's just like you always got that one best player on your team, just like Stanford is going to focus on Shavonte and it's just like it comes down to a team effort. It's not just about one player. And at this level you can't just let one player beat you. So I think that it's going to be a team effort on guarding Candice and guarding Jayne too because she's averaging double figures and the other four players too. And as far as getting ready to play against them for they run the same offense as UCONN, it's just that you just got to just dig down and play defense. You just got to get stops. And at this time people, you should be on your top of your game as far as defense. And I do think that playing against Connecticut got us prepared, will get us prepared for that. And I don't want to mention like the 30 point losses and the 20 point losses, I won't mention that. But it's just like right now you got to play defense. So that's it. SHAVONTE ZELLOUS: As far as the triple post whatever offense they run, but like she said, we did play Connecticut and I think Notre Dame ran the same offense as well and it's just going to have to come down to a team effort playing defense and stopping the go to players. Q. Mallorie, that game that when your coach came out to recruit, was that, that was a really big deal in San Diego, right, was that, can you talk just a little bit about what that game meant? I mean, was it all billed as the two superstars against each other and also when you look at film now is this Candice the same Candice that you played against in high school, does she look the same? MALLORIE WINN: I think that back then it wasn't like me against her. I really can't remember that well. I believe that either of us we were probably 1 and 2 in the county, so it was really just the two best teams going at each other. And it was a huge game at the time. I think that after we beat, she played for La Jolla Country Day and they were always our cross town rival, but after we beat them I think that we left or I left my senior season leaving Bishop's, which was my high school, number one in the county. So it was big in that sense. What was the second question? Q. Looking at the film of her now, is it the same player that she was then? What's the difference? What are the similarities? MALLORIE WINN: When I look at her I think her, she's the same in the sense that she's very athletic, she's very passionate, she's a very passionate player. She brings a lot of emotion to their team. I think that obviously over the years she has developed her shot and penetration and all that kind of stuff. So she's developed as a player. But when I look at her she's definitely the same. The same looking. Q. Any of you guys, Stanford will come in with more experience in this game than you guys have, does that make a difference? MARCEDES WALKER: It's not about experience right now. It's about who is going to go out there and play the hardest to get the win. They have been here, I can say -- well Candice been here for almost four years in her career, but like the last couple years I can remember I think there's probably like, if y'all can help me out, like this is their first time to the Sweet 16 in like two or three years. Two years. So it's just like we fresh too because it's our first time to the Sweet 16. So it's just like that it's the NCAA's, so you just want to go out there and leave it all out there. It's not about the teams that have been here way before you or if they have been here three straight years and you just your first time here. It's just the best team go out there and playing right about now you just got to be on the top of your game, both teams. Q. A couple of you experienced I think the six win season when you were freshmen. If that's right. MARCEDES WALKER: No. No. Q. You weren't here at that time. All right. Well like 12 wins maybe the first year. How satisfying is it to go from where you were to where you are now? MARCEDES WALKER: Well I was the only one who played that 13 year season or 13 win season. And I was pretty frustrated. But having these two right here Shavonte and Mall, I know I used to talk to them a lot freshman year to get me through. And it was like it was hard because I know I had injured my shoulder and I couldn't play in the last post season game when we went to the Big East Tournament. And I know coming from there Coach B was like, you never had a post season. So ever since then we have been just playing post season and it means a lot to be sitting here now and talking about the Sweet 16. And I don't know, I guess that just comes from us working hard and the coaches getting players in there to work hard to be here right now. Q. Your coach described your team as like a blue collar like team. Can you describe what your identity is, hard working, could you describe would you describe it as blue collar? SHAVONTE ZELLOUS: Our team? I wouldn't say we are a blue collar team. We do work hard, but then we have like our up-and-downs days in practice when we're just like, oh, you know, but when it comes all down to it, like right now, we're all hard working team together. MALLORIE WINN: I think we're the kind of team that rises to the occasion and I think that when we understand what's at stake and we play hard I think we're very difficult to stop. I can't say that we're blue collar in that we're an extremely hard working team on a consistent basis, but I think that when it comes down to it, when the time comes and when we really need to play, we do play. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, ladies. Good luck. End of FastScripts |
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