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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: OKLAHOMA CITYMarch 29, 2008Charel AllenAshley BarlowMuffet McGrawLindsay SchraderOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA COACH MUFFET McGRAW: (No microphone) -- a game where our experience down the stretch, all had an amazing game. And I thought our seniors stepped up and played with a lot of poise. We're going to need a lot of poise and then some to tackle the challenge that's ahead of us with Tennessee. Q. Coach, I guess the first question just looking back at the early January game and how hot Tennessee was, especially Angie Bjorklund, how do you tackle that game keeping the pressure on Candace Parker and focusing on their perimeter players as well. COACH MUFFET McGRAW: They shot the ball extremely well from the three-point line, and we actually tried to guard them, our game plan was not to pack it in, although it looked like that way. So we've worked on our defense overall since the Big East Tournament. Since actually after the Connecticut game we've played a lot better defensively. And I think our attitude is a little better about the defensive end. We are rebounding a little bit better. We just got better defensively. We'll see if we got good enough. Q. You just kinda touched on it a little bit but what are the best ways to defend Candace Parker and how much of that involves trying to get her into foul trouble? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: I think similar to how we looked at Courtney Paris; I don't think you stop her, I really don't. I think you have to hope that she doesn't have a monster game and it would be great if she got into foul trouble but that's not our game plan. We're going to play our game and really we have to go out -- I think the first time we played them we worried too much about her, she still got 20 and everybody else beat us as well. So I think we need a new plan. Q. A lot of emphasis obviously on the post game but you've got two teams with veteran backcourts, Tennessee with Shannon and Alexis, in yours with Charel and Tulyah Gaines. Can you talk about how key the guard play is going to be? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: For us our guard play has to be great for us to win and it has been very good. I think their guards are very experienced, excellent. They have a great team all around. I think their backcourt is exceptional as well, certainly among the best in the nation. I think that at this point in the season, I think in the NCAA tournament I think the guard play is usually what wins the game. Q. Can you talk about the contributions of Charel Allen this season, especially here toward the end of the year. COACH MUFFET McGRAW: Charel Allen is the only player in our team's history that has scored 1,500 points or more, gotten 500 rebounds and gotten 200 assists and 200 steals. It's kind of amazing with the players we've had come through that she's the only one that's accomplished that. So she has left her mark on our program, and has been sensational since her freshman year but this year even more so. She's the one who makes the big shots when we need them. She's played well consistently all year long, has had an incredible season. Q. The people here say it's all your fault that they aren't going to have to open the upper deck tomorrow. (Chuckles.) Do you feel a sense of guilt? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: No, we're combing the state for Catholics right now. I'm hoping to fill up the arena and get all the Catholic school kids out here today. We were practicing over at the Fighting Irish gym at Bishop McGuiness. I'm hoping the people come out. I plan on wearing red and hope the people will cheer for us. Q. Why red? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: It's Oklahoma's colors. I figure maybe they'll cheer for us rather than orange. Q. After the first meeting you mentioned that your team was, I think your exact quote was, "we were definitely intimidated," how do you rectify that? Does it help that you've played them once, seen that at emotion of fear once? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: I don't know if it helps playing them once, but I think it helps that we did play three of the No. 1 seeds, you know, and Rutgers as a No. 2 seed. So we got better during the year playing those kinds of teams, certainly coming out of the Oklahoma game, another great team that we were able to play and gain some experience. And I think at this point in the season the seniors are thinking, we don't want our season to end. So I don't know we'll be intimidated. I don't think we will be, but certainly we're going to play hard, and I think for us, that's our big key. You know, we want to go out and play our game, play hard and see what happens. Q. In building your program to one of the elite programs you have won over the Connecticut and Rutgers, but you haven't had the elusive win over Tennessee. Talk about what that would mean to break that streak. COACH MUFFET McGRAW: It will be great if I wouldn't have to answer that question anymore. I think that would be the best thing about it. They're an excellent team and probably the one year we had the National Championship team we didn't play them, not to say that we would have won, but certainly that probably would have been our best chance. They've always been a higher seed when we played them, and not the kind of team that looks past people that you can sneak up on. So I know I saw in the paper again today and I feel like it's printed on my forehead, "0-for-Tennessee." But I think I'm giving Pat a good time. She's coming off the shoulder injury, she's got bad knees. I think this year if we get her in a running game I got her! (Laughter.) Q. Coach, you talk about playing the top seed, your team is getting a chance to play them again after the game, that has to be extra motivation, not just the loss but the chance to beat Tennessee? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: I think it is motivation, not so much, you know, in kind of a revenge sort of way, but just for themselves to say, you know, we're going to play our game. I think we looked at the film from that game and we were pretty bad start to finish. We didn't have a lot of highlights to look at to say, we did this well or that well. So I think that's been how we've looked at each game after we came out of those types of games, and said, if we at least play our game then we can feel good about how we're running our stuff or how we're defending or how we're rebounding. And that's really what we're going into the game thinking. Q. After Devereaux went down, you guys struggled a little bit at the end of the season. Did that have anything to do with her injury? She was contributing a great deal to you at that point. COACH MUFFET McGRAW: She really was. We had a great week after she we went down. We beat Pitt, Syracuse and won at DePaul. I think offensively we were really doing a lot of good things. Defensively we had gotten a lot better which was surprising because she is definitely one of our better defenders and one of our best rebounders. We really missed her in games when rebounding is a big factor. When we played at Rutgers, I thought we really missed her ability to defend in there. And certainly there are times she helps our press and she helps us in a lot of ways. So I definitely think we've missed her, but we kind of banded together pretty well immediately following her injury. Q. You have lost Devereaux Peters, Erica Williamson can you talk about what you're getting out of her now that you're using her in the post? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: I was pleased with her against Oklahoma. I think having a big body in there and having a defensive presence. And it's hard to say you play well when you let Courtney Paris get 24 points and 16 rebounds, but I thought she did -- she didn't get a lot of rebounds but she was effective keeping others off the boards. She has had some great games for us this year, really, really maturing as a sophomore and throughout the year had some great games. So she is going to be important, I think. Certainly the interior defense is going to be really crucial for us tomorrow. Q. Can you talk about your other sophomore, Ashley Barlow? You've been getting consistent scoring from her. COACH MUFFET McGRAW: She's kind of the unsung hero of our team. Somebody nobody talks about. We get a lot of stuff from her. She is able to score out on the offense, and get big plays. I thought the steal she had late in the game against Oklahoma sealed the win for us. She is a great free-throw shooter. She shot well from the three-point line this year, and she is the most determined player I've ever coached. She isn't real big or real fast but she gets the job done because she has a tremendous will, and she is a really important part of our team. Q. Will you or have you picked Lindsay Schrader's brain at all about Candace Parker? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: No, we haven't. I know they played together a little bit back in the day, and before we played them last time we spoke a little bit. But I don't think -- I think she's somebody that you don't need to know too well because she's just a great player, and there's not a lot of secrets, I think. Q. Obviously Candace Parker, and some of the guards get a lot of attention but can you talk about Angie Bjorklund, obviously memories of her and Vicki because, maybe? COACH MUFFET McGRAW: I have fond memories of her, and I think she made seven threes in our game, and we were trying to guard her. But she is somebody that is a huge concern to defend. You can't worry about the inside when she's on your side. She had an incredible freshman year. I knew watching her play she was going to be a great player. She reminds had Beth Morgan who was a great player in Notre Dame shift, she is just an outstanding player and we might put somebody on the bench with her just so we're ready for her when she comes in. THE MODERATOR: Questions for our student-athletes. Q. Charel, like every Notre Dame player, you've never beaten Tennessee. They handled you easily earlier in the year. What do you take out of that game and what would it mean to be the team that broke the ice? CHAREL ALLEN: It would be great to beat Tennessee. They're the No. 1 seed, we're the No. 5 seed. We have nothing to lose. They have everything. They're the defending champs. And I would think we learned when we played them earlier this season, we just have to guard the three-point line. We gave up seven threes to one girl and that's not acceptable. We have to guard the three-point line. Q. Charel, would you talk about how many times you've seen those three-pointers over and over? Have you guys watched the video of that game? CHAREL ALLEN: We have watched it over and over again, and actually I'm tired of watching it. So we're going to get out there and show them that we can guard the three-point line. Q. Lindsay, Coach said she hasn't tried to pick your brain at all about having played with Candace Parker for any tips or anything like that. Is there anything that your teammates have asked you involving Candace that you can help out on or anything like that? LINDSAY SCHRADER: I played with her six years ago, so she was a completely different player than she is now. We were friends back in the day but I haven't contacted her or anything like that since then. So, no, they haven't said anything to me about it, no. Q. Ashley, would you talk about what it means to get this far for the first time, and what's driving you now to keep going to the next round? ASHLEY BARLOW: It means a lot to us and, I mean, we just continue to fight. It was amazing to -- very exciting to get to this round, and we played all the way to the end and fought all the way, and that's what we're going to continue to do. And we believe in ourselves. Q. Ashley, Coach said that you were the most determined player she has ever coached. And also she said they don't run a lot of plays for you. Seems to me to be kind of opposite thing. ASHLEY BARLOW: When you have a player like Charel Allen on your team, I mean, she is a great scorer. But you've got to stay in the offense, and that's what I try to do and that's when my shots come when I stay in the offense. I do my shots through the offense and it's not like I'm out of it. I mean, I just work and try and do whatever it takes for the team to win. THE MODERATOR: Ladies, best of luck tomorrow evening. End of FastScripts |
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