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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: OKLAHOMA CITYApril 1, 2008Morenike AtunraseGary BlairA'Quonesia FranklinTakia StarksOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA THE MODERATOR: The student-athletes have arrived. We'll take questions for the student-athletes first. Coach, your thoughts on this evening's game. COACH BLAIR: For the die-hard out there, you might have wanted offense. But for the basketball purists out there, it was great defense from both teams. Their perimeter defense was a lot better than we expected, and they -- Bobbitt in the first half controlled their defense. The second half we did a better job of sometimes running our stuff, but we couldn't score! We scored six baskets, they scored five. Is that good for women's basketball? Damn straight, if you can appreciate defense, but you have to appreciate that. But we did some things to take them deep into the shot clock; I thought we did a great job of backgrounding the ball, except for two or three offensive possessions, but other than that, they were one and out. I thought there was a couple of times in the second half where we had the right play called, we didn't execute or we had Bobbitt isolated on Gant and we quit shooting the 15-footer over her, which was open. It would be just like Alexis Hornbuckle shooting a 15-footer over her on the mismatch. You've got to take what the defense gives, and you when the defense gives you something, you've got to exploit it. There is not much more that I can say. I'm just so proud of this basketball team. The score was 42-39 or something like that. We missed the front-end of a 1-1, that was huge. But we missed so many shots in the second half, which one did you want to look at that was more important? We turned the ball over than we normally did, and that was because of our passing skills and our ball handling, and Tennessee is a very good perimeter defense. I thought the post players neutralized themselves very well. I thought La Toya Micheaux played a very good second half, and I thought she neutralized Anosike very well. Parker is Parker, and we did as well as we could. And I thought she showed a lot of effort playing with that shoulder of hers, because I know she was in a lot of pain, but we were in a lot of pain trying to guard her, too. This basketball team, you look at the eight scorers that were left, the 2 seed won the first two and almost won this one. This is the way it should be. You shouldn't predetermine before the year starts who is going to be the national champion. There's clairity out there, and it's coming. We need more Texas A&M's out there that's going to pay the price and move up their product to get the job done. I'm proud of our conference. I'm proud of the Big 12 for hosting the best and most well-attended regional of all four of 'em. That's what we do here in the Big 12, we did it right. This is a great basketball country, and I'm hoping the recruits all over the country will say, hey, I want to play for a Big 12 school, preferably somebody in maroon. (Chuckles.) Q. A'Quo, if you and Mo could address this. How difficult were the shots down the stretch? You guys only got 3 points in the last six minutes. While the defense was there, it ultimately comes down on making shots, doesn't it? A'QUONESIA FRANKLIN: You've got to give credit to Tennessee. They did a tremendous job guarding us on the perimeter. Yes, Tennessee, the defending national champs, holding them to five buckets in the second half. Like Coach said, it was a great defensive game, and Alexis Hornbuckle stepped up and had a big shot for them down the stretch. MORENIKE ATUNRASE: I think whenever you play the style of defense like we play, it's going to be hard day in and day out to create shots and get open plays, and that's what we saw tonight. Q. A'quonesia, can you talk about before you arrived from when you guys came in as freshman to running all the way to the Elite Eight? A'QUONESIA FRANKLIN: Coming here as a freshman -- the year before I got there, Texas A&M was losing close, and once I got there, we were winning, you know, big games, advanced to the NIT. The next two years we advanced to the NCAA and this year making it to the Elite Eight is showing that the program has turned around. Texas A&M is back on the map! Q. Takia, when Parker goes out, did anybody have to remind you guys not to think, now we're going to run them off the floor? We timely got her out of there? Is there a tendency to think, now we've got them where we want them? TAKIA STARKS: Kind of sort of. We were paying attention to when she was in and out of the game. And when she was out, we wanted to push the tempo more and attack the basket more with her absence. Q. Takia and A'Quo, the first half, talk about the outside pressure for them, you were 5 of 10 on three-pointers, and what changed from the first half to the second half, do you feel? A'QUONESIA FRANKLIN: In the first half, like Coach said, Bobbitt did a great job of mixing up our offense, getting our timing off, putting more pressure on me. And in the first half, we were moving. And the next time we went down the shot clock was running down and it was one-on-one. In the second half they were switching from man to zone and doing a tremendous job of keep us away from the three-point line and keeping us away from the perimeter. And they did a tremendous job of stepping up their perimeter defense. TAKIA STARKS: Their defense got better in the second half. And I know they were with me whenever I went and didn't have too many open shots, and our passes got sloppy and we were kind of throwing it around all over the place. Q. Okay, ladies, we're going to let you return to the locker room. Congratulations on a great season. We'll take questions for Coach now. Q. Coach, were you disappointed not to be able to stretch that lead while Parker was out of the game? Is that something that you thought was a good opportunity? And second, what went through your mind when she hit that shot from, you know, mid-court? COACH BLAIR: Well, it felt like it was Andrea Reilly all over hitting one, but that shot was further out than Andrea's at the end of the game, but that didn't beat us. I think it made it a 5-point game, and we still had shots. We missed layups and outside shots and didn't hit it, but great players make great plays at the end of the game. You've got to want the ball. She was the only starter, really, besides Parker, that was doing anything on the offensive end. Bobbitt was doing a good job of running her team, but she was turning it over just like my guards were turning it over. So though I believe that was the only field goal for her in the second half, that was a dagger that hurt. We were taking them deep into the shot clock, and I think that's good defense. That's not poor offense, that's good defense first, but they were doing the same thing to us. We were not doing a good job when the ball stopped. I don't know if I answered that or not, but just make up a couple things. (Laughter.) Q. (No microphone.) COACH BLAIR: We went to a press. When she came back into the ballgame, Reado fouled her once on the open court thing, and we told her to back off of that. We felt like we could pressure the rest of them like we press everybody else in the country. Our job is to turn the ball over and get easy transition baskets. I think one of those six baskets was a wide-open layup by us. Other than that, we didn't run the offense well enough. It's all about execution, but if the defense takes away your options, then you've got to be creative enough to score off of the dribble, and that's where we were turning the ball over. We were not creating off of the dribble when the shot clock went down. Good defense, bad ball handling. Q. Can you talk about your senior class, what they meant not only during their four years, but what they will mean to the future of this program? COACH BLAIR: I hope seniors all over the country realize, go to the school that best fits your talent and your opportunity. There is a lot of schools that you can live your dream out; Texas A&M is just one of them. But these seniors have been so special. They believed in us first. They said, hey, we'll only come to a program that's not winning, and I'm going to believe in the coaching staff and I'm going to believe in the quality of education. We can get it at Texas A&M. They're special. I hope a couple of them get next-level opportunities. But if not, I want them to be successful in life. Use this as a learning experience. Sometimes you have to fail before you can succeed. I think that's what we did tonight. But we had every intention of winning this basketball game. Q. Coach, you had a five-point lead with six minutes to go; crowd is into it, everything seems to be working. Do you feel like at that point it was your game to win? That was the way you wanted everything to go at that point? COACH BLAIR: I'm glad you reminded me of that, Robert; I didn't realize it was five with six, but that hurts, yeah. Give credit to Tennessee for winning it. I don't think we lost it, I think Tennessee won it down the stretch. They made the plays, the defensive plays and the offensive plays and knocked down a couple of free-throws and that was it. Neither team can look back at one particular play that just made it, because even if Hornbuckle would have missed that shot from 40 feet, Batman could have come in and got the rebound and dunked on us. We never know, because she can make that many plays, but we were doing a pretty good job on her. Q. Gary, when you go back home, will you -- how -- what will you think about how this team came here, and after all this program has been and where it's been, y'all are one or two breaks away from getting to the Final Four, and just how much growth of the program is it until y'all get to that point? COACH BLAIR: The last two years we didn't leave our best game on the floor. In the first round or the second round. I think we left our best game on the floor. We didn't leave our best execution, but we gave people all across the country a new team to root for. Okay? A new team to root for. I mean, it's great. I'm a Dallas Cowboy fan, as you know, but sometimes it's time for other teams to win in football besides the Cowboys all the time. And maybe it's time for other teams in women's basketball besides, what, Tennessee and Connecticut and the Dukes of the world have done. It's time to spread it around, but to do that, we've got to spread around the recruiting a little, too. Q. Gary, I think you said the other day you weren't playing unless Danielle played. She played tonight. Can you talk about her and the kids you have coming back next year? COACH BLAIR: This was not Danielle's best game, but defensively she was as solid as she ever was. On offense, she missed some opportunities that she normally knocks down and she's got to shoot the mid-range game against this team because they're not going to let you get to the basket. We ran a couple of set plays where we had her matched up with Bobbitt, and those are her plays and she's got to shoot over her, just like she would shoot over A'Quo, you can't get to the rim on those. I don't know if there's a 5'10" player in the country that plays harder than her on both ends of the floor. Somebody might play better than her on a consistent basis on the offensive end, but nobody plays harder than her. And when you play harder, you work on your skills over the summer, there is no telling how good she's going to become. She's a special player, comes from a great state and we're just lucky to have her for one more year. Q. I wonder if you watched last night's LSU game? COACH BLAIR: Sure did. Q. And you know what it's like to coach for a long time, and your thoughts on Van getting his first Final Four and the LSU/Tennessee rematch? COACH BLAIR: First on the rematches and opponents playing each other, I think all of us need to realize that the Big East has 8 teams in and the Big 12 has 8 teams in. You're going to see somebody in a regional final or first round, so get over it. I think that's what the coaches need to do. We should be rewarded because both of us have 8 teams. I just think, be happy where you are right now, because I think the quality of the teams, particularly these schools at the top eight or through the top 16, that's the heart and the soul of women's basketball right now. I'm just glad to be a part of it right now, glad to have the Big 12 be part of it. That was the first -- give me that first part again, Michelle. Q. Van? COACH BLAIR: Van, I wanted so bad to get to the Final Four and play Van, because he would have been the oldest coach to coach in the Final Four, not me. And he was a lot older than me! (Chuckles.) But I'm happy for Van because you're sort of in a no-win situation. You take somebody else's kids, particularly older kids that are set in their ways, but he was smart enough to keep Bob Starkey and bring in Travis and Yolanda. He's got a great staff and he's a defensive-minded coach, just like I am, and I think it will be a great match-up. I think we were probably able to show a lot of people some things that might hurt Tennessee, but some of the things we did might hurt a Connecticut or an LSU, too. But some of the things they did to us hurt us. We've got to get better on both ends of the court. But LSU getting there, I think that's special. Those are my old buddies from the SEC, and I'm happy to see both of them there. Pat has meant so much to this game, okay? She has meant so much -- she deserves everything that she is getting. I just wish she would give me a few of her recruits sometimes, but I'm not going to give up any of mine, though. I love what I have. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you for your comments and best of luck. COACH BLAIR: Last thing, it was my wife's birthday today, and I did get her a pretty doggone good present back there, and my grandson right there is pretty special. That's Logan, he's 4 years old. Give 'em a wave there, Logan. Thanks to Big 12 for running a great tournament. End of FastScripts |
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