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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2010Elaine ElliottKalee WhippleTaryn WicijowskiLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Utah – 63 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Utah. We'll start with a general comment from Coach Elliott. COACH ELLIOTT: Well, we were pleased to win the game, obviously, with I think a very competitive Air Force team. They do a lot of things well. They really come at you. I think that the, you know, their record this year I don't think indicates the progress they've made or even the abilities they have, meaning in the future look out. They have some nice young players. Our kids, you know, competed hard and kind of took that, weathered things early, gutted through things, stretched it to a comfortable margin. You know, that's good. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Taryn, you really had your way in the low post. Can you talk about what you were trying to do, what was working for you? TARYN WICIJOWSKI: I think there was a lot of gaps in their matchup zone. Just kind of found those gaps where people couldn't find me or double-team me at least. That's just kind of how it all happened. Q. Kalee, you won eight of your last 10. Do you feel like you're playing your best basketball at the right time? KALEE WHIPPLE: Absolutely. I think this is the best time you want to peak. This is when you want to be your best. We've had some struggles in the beginning. We're here now and we're ready to play. I think we're peaking at the right time. Q. Kalee, coach mentioned about how you weather the storm early in the game. Maybe earlier this season you might not have weathered it so well. You have grown up. Can you talk about that and the change in your team over the last 10 games. KALEE WHIPPLE: Yeah, we, like you said, struggled at times at the beginning. We've started freshmen a lot. We lost a lot of people, so we're putting freshmen in positions where they have to step up and play big roles on our team. At the beginning we struggled at times. We got nervous. We made little mistakes. But, like you said, we've gotten better. Our freshmen, like Taryn, she had her way, did her thing. You know, we're just weathering it, what she said. Q. Taryn, I think the thing that's been impressive about you is how patient you are. Do you attribute that to anything as far as growing up, how you played growing up? TARYN WICIJOWSKI: I think that, uhm, my play internationally definitely helped me because it's a lot of pressure and a lot of big bodies everywhere. So I think that just helped me with my patience because you can't force anything at the international level, so... Q. Kalee, do you ever get tired out there at all? KALEE WHIPPLE: Never (laughter). Q. You play every minute. KALEE WHIPPLE: No, no, never get tired. Can't tell? Q. No. KALEE WHIPPLE: That's what I'm going for. Never let the opponent know you're tired. Q. Talk about your rebounding. How did that go tonight? KALEE WHIPPLE: Yeah, I don't know. I think I crashed more than I usually do, which I feel like I continue or I need to continue to do. I think coach is always on me to try to get more rebounds. So I think that's something that I need to do. Yeah, they were there. Just when it comes down to post-season, I think it comes down to hustle plays, and we got some of those tonight. THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll dismiss the student-athletes. We'll open it up for questions for Coach Elliott. Q. Coach, can you talk a little bit about Janita's development. Even though she makes mistakes, is a great player for you at the point guard. COACH ELLIOTT: Well, she has improved tremendously. Granted, you know, she's still a sophomore and does make a lot of mistakes. But she also makes fewer and fewer. She also learns and learns and will continue to make fewer and fewer. When that happens, she's going to be pretty darn complete. You know, there are certainly special freshmen, Kim Smith, Shona Thorburn, Julie Krommenhoek, who over the years, were winning championships as freshmen. But that is, as I said, only special players. Most kids are going to come in at this level. If you know that you've got a good group, you're doing well, you know, you just are kind of waiting for the freshmen to be upperclassmen, at that point in time winning championships of their own. We were a couple plays away from what you can say in any given year, away from a championship itself, even in the regular season. That says a lot of good things about what our young kids are doing, obviously Janita being one of them, and an enthusiasm for what we think they'll be able to do as they grow. Q. Can you talk more about Taryn's game today and just where her game is at this point. COACH ELLIOTT: Well, you know, she is certainly poised as far as not a lot of things rattle her. She has already, as a freshman, seen everything thrown at her. She's put up the numbers that she's had, double-teamed 50% to 75% of the time. So, again, as she gets really good at playing out of that, which takes time, 'cause she does good things and she makes mistakes, that will be very scary for people because she'll get to that point in her career where she's one of those post kids that as long as we provide the proper kids around her, uhm, it will be a very difficult combination. Q. Can you talk about the format of the tournament. You've seen it from both sides now. You're barely getting into this. A little different than last year when you had a few days to wait. COACH ELLIOTT: Yeah, it's fair. You know, we didn't win the league. We didn't get second in the league. That's fine. I never have been a believer that you just should, you know, play two and a half months of gut ball and then like, you know, you're supposed to start over and everybody gets exactly the same chance. I don't believe in that. So, you know, we're where we should be. That's where we ended up. I'm proud our kids were third in the league, tying with San Diego State. Being in the upper echelon, like I said, a couple plays away from the very top. You couldn't have thought that about this team early in the season. So, you know, we're fine. We know coming in exactly what you're left with. It wasn't a surprise. So you come in, you do the job that you're given to do. Q. Coach, obviously tomorrow you turn around and play. Is there a matchup that you would prefer to see? How do you get your kids prepared so quickly with that turnaround? COACH ELLIOTT: At this time of the year, with this kind of a tournament, with having to, in our case, play in four games if you're going to get a championship, is not -- I mean, there's not the prep you normally would put in. There isn't physical prep. There is just remembering, if you know what I mean. There is reviewing what we already had decided a particular matchup leaves us with from the two prior times. Don't forget what we believe we need to do. So it really is just mental. There is a physical component certainly to playing a lot of games - less so for teams that have much depth, more so for teams that don't. We don't pretend to be a team that plays a lot of kids a lot of minutes or goes 10 deep. We have gotten into a pretty good eight-player rotation, to be honest with us, that's pretty much what everybody's got. So it's not quite -- might look like that's a little bit more of a disadvantage, but we don't look at it that way. You just need to go get it for your hour and 45 minutes, then you got a lot of rest time. So we'll rest a lot. We're not going to worry about practicing on the floor. We're just going to worry about getting our heads to whatever's next and trying to remember what we want to do to be successful in whatever's next. Q. Can you talk about Kalee. She also had a career high in her assists. Talk about her game tonight. COACH ELLIOTT: Well, I mean, you get a senior coming down to the end of it all, and that's what you hope exists within a kid like that. Usually it does because that's why they're at where they're at. That's where they're getting first team all conference, and their performances are amazing, because it matters to them. They have what's inside, they have what it takes to compete. Now it just gets down the stretch. Kids in that situation, and a kid like Kalee, there's no surprise that that's a part of what I think you'll see, is just a real determination just to do the best she can. Nobody always plays perfectly. Nobody will always do everything right. But, you know, Kalee will try. Kalee won't back down from trying. You know, there's no better chance to be good than if you can accomplish that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. End of FastScripts |
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