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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS & FINALS: KANSAS CITYMarch 30, 2010Victoria DunlapMatthew MitchellAmber SmithKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI Oklahoma – 88 THE MODERATOR: We're now joined at the table by the Kentucky Wildcats' head coach, Matthew Mitchell, and his two student athletes. Coach, your thoughts on tonight's game? COACH MITCHELL: Well, I want to congratulate Oklahoma. What a fantastic performance they had tonight. As a coach, I was totally impressed with how they came out, with a lot of tenacity and fought back from an early deficit and really got control of the game. We were beaten by a very, very good basketball team and a very good basketball program that we have tremendous respect for, and we wish them well as they head to San Antonio. Q. Victoria, did you feel like you guys maybe didn't have quite as much energy tonight as you had in the first game? VICTORIA DUNLAP: I think there was a definitely change from how we had played in previous game. We know we didn't play our best, but I thought we came out in the beginning and definitely gave our effort and energy. And just at the end we just weren't ourselves, and I think we kind of got into a better offense, missing shots, let it get to us and we just weren't the same defensive team that we usually have been. Q. Amber, when Oklahoma switched to a zone, how did that affect what you all were doing? AMBER SMITH: We just got real passive, and we didn't attack the gaps, so we hurt ourselves in the zone. Q. Victoria, Nebraska got down early obviously and they didn't let that necessarily -- or at least you guys got on Nebraska early and were able to hold them down, but did Oklahoma's experience being in this situation, do you think that played a factor in the game? VICTORIA DUNLAP: Um, I'm not sure. I mean, I don't know what they were thinking, but we weren't worried about what they were going to do. The whole time we were thinking about what we were going to do as a team. Obviously they are a good team and they've been here before, so that might have been a factor for them, but that wasn't our mentality to think about their experience. Q. Amber, could you discuss their guards? They were maybe quicker than some guards that you guys have faced before, and they seemed to get some points driving to the basket the way you guys usually do. AMBER SMITH: Yeah, I mean, but we've played guards that quick, so I mean, it was just we weren't focused in fundamentally on defense. We didn't get to the right position in defense, so that was our fault. We just turned the ball over too much. Q. Could you talk about just the season and what it's meant and kind of will you remember this feeling for next season? VICTORIA DUNLAP: It's definitely been a great, amazing season that we've had, the work that we've put in since last season in the summer and the preseason, and the mentality that Coach has gotten us into to represent Kentucky as a school and as a state, people have definitely come out to support us more. People are looking at us like we are -- that's Kentucky, okay, that's a defensive team. They definitely recognize us more. All I can say is that it definitely hurts that we lost, but we're definitely going to cherish this moment, this season, this team because we started something new, and the people coming next year are definitely going to have a lot to fill because especially with the two that we're losing, Amani and Lyd, what they've been through and all the injuries that they've been through, they've battled a lot, and they've definitely helped us out this year with their leadership and their hustle and everything the whole entire season. I'm proud of them and I'm proud of my teammates where we've gone so far and just cherish this moment forever. Q. Amber, you guys got off to such a fast start and it looked like Oklahoma couldn't hit anything, and then all of a sudden it just seemed to switch as quickly. Were you guys shocked by how quickly Oklahoma got back into the game? AMBER SMITH: We weren't shocked. I mean, we know we are a good team and we knew they were going to make their run and we just had to make a run back and we didn't do that. We stopped playing how we were defensively. We came out of the gate great playing defensively and then we stopped doing that and that's how they got their lead, so I wasn't shocked. THE MODERATOR: Ladies, congratulations on a great season. We'll take questions now for Coach. Q. Coach, from your perspective, you guys got off to such a great start; what happened? COACH MITCHELL: Well, I thought that Oklahoma just really absorbed that initial blow with, you know, an attitude of coming back swinging. When you have veteran guards that are as good as those kids are, they just kept going. We just missed a few rotations there in transition where they were able to get it deep and kick it back out and made some shots. I just thought they kept their composure. And then when they went to the zone, we did a really poor job there of attacking that. It kind of got us out of attack mentality. So there's 100 things happening in the game and we'll go back and watch the film and see what we could have done better, but that's my initial impression, that they were able to keep their composure. Q. Against that zone, just how effective were Robinson and Stevenson out in front of that with their hands? COACH MITCHELL: It was good. They were very effective. I didn't think that the offense -- we had 45 percent shooting at halftime and 39 points, and we had nine offensive boards and made a couple threes and making our free throws, so I thought that they were very aggressive at the top, and so they definitely made some plays up there, but I was more concerned about our defense at halftime. Q. I know you said all season you don't want to talk about what you've accomplished this season until the season is over. Now that it is over, can you take some solace in the fact that you've really done a lot of things that Kentucky has never done before as a program? COACH MITCHELL: I don't think there's any question that when we reflect back on this season, everyone involved will know that this was a special basketball team. You know, it's not even about not going to the Final Four tonight; it's about being in that locker room with a bunch of kids that just absolutely pushed it to the limit. I told them back there that I wouldn't trade places with Coach Coale at all. I congratulate Oklahoma. I'm real, real proud of Kentucky. Q. Going forward, do you feel like you need to get a little longer, keep the athleticism but get a little longer on your roster? COACH MITCHELL: Oh, sure, absolutely. You know, where we were at this stage, we just needed to get the right kind of people in the program, and that's from staff members to players to support staff. You need the right kind of people, the people that are dedicated to honesty, hard work, discipline, things that we talk about. And so now as you move forward, you certainly look for tall, long, athletic people that like honesty, hard work and discipline, and so there's no question that we are addressing that right now in recruiting. We would like to keep this style of play if we possibly can. I think it's a fun way to play, and I think it's exciting. And I think there's some players out there that will be the right kind of people, and that's what we need to be looking for. So I'm confident that we're doing that. We get a lot of good response from people. I think people are excited about the direction. So we will be working hard to get that done. Q. Could you discuss their quickness a little bit? She was talking about their guards in the top of the zone, but they were scoring points off turnovers. They were doing a lot of things that you guys do to other teams. Talk about what they were able to do. COACH MITCHELL: Yeah, I just thought that Stevenson probably played -- I haven't seen her play that well, and that's a compliment to her to be able to sense the moment and raise her level. She was really quick. And Robinson is a terrific guard, and so I just thought those two kids really controlled the game. They are outstanding, veteran guards that just weren't going to be denied tonight. I just thought that we were -- we would have had to really, really be in tune tonight with what we needed to do and for whatever reason -- one reason is because Oklahoma is awfully good. Another is we just weren't as sharp as we'd been all year. We've been sharp a bunch of times. You know, we've been sharp a bunch of times, and I just leave here sad for the kids tonight, but what a tremendous effort by a group of people to come together and become their best. Q. I noticed you huddled the kids on the floor before you left. Could you talk about just what you said or what you told them there? COACH MITCHELL: Yeah. I really feel like this team was committed, and as a coach that's what you just pray you can get. We got a lot of commitment from those folks wearing blue up there in the stands, and they've been with us all the way through an undefeated season at home, through an incredible March through the SEC tournament and the NCAA Tournament, and they've been there for us. And I just wanted the players to recognize that's part of why it's so special to be here and why we're so fortunate that Dr. Todd and Mr. Barnhart have been good enough to let us all be here and put on that jersey. So I wanted them to just walk out with their head held high. They've had a great, great run, and then acknowledge those good people that spent money and effort to come out here and support them. So that's what we talked about. Q. Kind of a two-parter. The first one is do you think that next season you'll be picked to finish 11th in the SEC, and with everything you have coming back, you have to be looking at next season already and kind of feeling good. COACH MITCHELL: Well, the first part, you just never know what people are going to do, so I don't have any idea. I would suspect that we probably won't be picked. But here's the trick now. This is an important thing, that we do not take this team for granted. And one thing that I was able to -- that I've been able to learn that's been very valuable is that tradition is important and tradition is great, but really the focus needs to be every year is a new year. Every year is a new team. We're losing two seniors, I'm telling you now, that we're going to try to replace with a sophomore that needs to get better and we're going to try to replace with some freshmen. You can't take it for granted that it's just going to keep rolling along. So the challenge for the next team is they won't fly under the radar. They'll never have that again unless there's some type of dip, you know, and people aren't expecting it from year to year. But the hope is and the plan is that this won't happen again. So now they've got to approach it with just white hot intensity as we ramp up to get ready for the next one. So I will never, ever go into next season taking what happened this season and just thinking it's going to happen. That's going to take -- this team worked so hard day after day after day. People thought they were going to be a bad team; they didn't listen. People thought we wouldn't get to the SEC tournament championship game. No one probably thought we'd get to the Sweet 16. Certainly no one thought we were going to get to the Elite 8. So this team has accomplished a lot, and so for next season, whatever good we can take, whatever momentum builds, whatever standard has been set, I think that's how you use this season getting ready for the next, because these kids aren't robots; they're human beings. They have to go out and go through it and do all the work. We will go in with tremendous optimism but knowing that we have to stay true to what our principles are. Q. Victoria played the way that Victoria always plays, but you kind of needed another person to step up, and that's happened almost every game this season. What did you feel like happened with the other scorers this time? COACH MITCHELL: Well, it just -- Sunday night you go 8 for 16 from the three-point line. You get down to this point and teams are really good and they have ability. You just don't have an opportunity to work through a bad night. It's -- I thought we were trying. I thought that -- there's so much on the line. People react differently in this setting. I thought A'dia got a little frustrated, and that's because she cares. That's because she wanted to continue to play with this team, so you don't fault her for that. You try to learn from that and move forward. We just missed some shots that we've been making. I don't think it was a product of us not trying. I thought the kids were playing hard. We wish we'd played better, but we clearly needed somebody to step up and be that complement to Victoria. She had a whale of a game. Q. You touched on them briefly, but can you talk about what Amani and Lydia have meant as seniors to this team? COACH MITCHELL: I appreciate you asking that, because those two players have overcome so many points in their career here at Kentucky where they wouldn't be here tonight, so that's a wonderful thing for them. We wouldn't be here tonight without those two. What we as the coaches at Kentucky are trying to do, we're trying to be honestly competitive and win games, but we believe that our mission is to help these kids become better people and get them prepared as they leave, and I'm really, really proud of Amani and Lydia because it hasn't always been hard -- it hasn't always been easy for them, and they've made some changes just as people. So I'm really, really excited for them in their future because they are -- they have worked themselves in a position to be successful people, and they use basketball as a tool to get them there. So I'm really, really grateful to those two. You couldn't write enough nice things about those two kids and how proud of them I am. They will always be a part of this program. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much for your comments. Good luck on next season and congratulations on a great year. COACH MITCHELL: I want to thank everybody here in Kansas City. We were treated extremely well, and thanks to everyone who helped us out here. End of FastScripts |
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