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NCAA WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 2, 2011

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Connecticut student-athletes Lorin Dixon and Maya Moore and Coach Geno Auriemma. We'll start with an opening statement from Coach Auriemma.
COACH AURIEMMA: What can you say? Other than you get to this point, and I know everybody's anxious for Sunday night to get here so we can play.
One of the most challenging things about being in the Final Four, not that you would trade it for anything, but by the time game day rolls around, you're exhausted from doing all the other things you have to do.
So we're looking forward to getting some rest tonight, and tomorrow's going to be a big day for us and for Maya and Lorin, especially, and I know they're anxious for it, and so am I.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Maya, certainly the career you've had has been incredible, and now people are really kind of revving up the discussion of you being one of the best players of all time. What do you think of that kind of conversation and where would you rank?
MAYA MOORE: Well, I don't get to hear it a whole lot. So I don't really have an opinion about it, really. I think our coaching staff and just as a program as a whole does a really good job of making sure that we're always staying hungry, always aware of the shortcomings in our team and as players individually so we're always working on something, always striving to be better at something in practice, and our coaches do a good job also making sure that when game time comes we're confident and we're ready to go and we know we're prepared.
So that's been my mindset for the last few years. And it's great that other people think highly of me and my team. So that's generally how we've approached it.

Q. Maya, you guys played Georgetown a week ago, and it was a familiar foe. Now you're playing Notre Dame for the fourth time. Is it kind of like if you were playing a little brother or sister or big brother, sister, you know each other well like in the backyard, that sort of thing?
MAYA MOORE: We're definitely very familiar with each other, and I think that can make it tougher, just because both teams know what each other likes to do. So we're going to do a good job of trying to take that away from each other. So it's really going to come down to the little things, and whatever team has prepared the best and has the better will to win. In this situation it really does come down to who has the bigger will to win.

Q. Maya, give me your take as a competitor on Skylar Diggins, what makes her good, what worries you the most when you're playing against her.
MAYA MOORE: She's one of those players that can get in the lane. She's a play-maker. She can shoot the 3. She can drive. She can kick.
There's really not a lot of holes in her offensive game. So that makes her dangerous, because she can do so many things. If you try to take one thing away she can counter with another.
So that's probably what concerns us the most. I think the best thing for us would be to just try to make everything that she gets just really tough. You're not necessarily going to shut a player like that out. But you want to make her work and make her fight for everything that she gets, whether it's an assist, whether it's a shot. We want to make everything for her difficult.

Q. Maya and Lorin, there's a lot of players that don't get to go to the Final Four once in their career; here you are for the fourth time. Can you talk about what that's meant to you?
LORIN DIXON: It means a lot. Just coming here freshman year, being able to experience the Final Four then, you know, going every year after that. Like you said, a lot of players don't get a chance to experience this. So for me and Maya to have been here for four years is pretty remarkable, pretty incredible, and it's something we'll remember for the rest of our lives.
MAYA MOORE: I think that not only have we been to the Final Four, we've won national championships. So we really, really value that experience.
I think that's one of the advantages we have, is just we may not have the most players, but we do have experience in winning national championships.
So we're going to take that sense of urgency the way we prepare, the way we focus, the way we approach everything, based off of that experience.

Q. Maya and Lorin, does the team have the sense that the nation might not be too upset if Connecticut gets beat? And does that motivate you? And, secondly, there is a potential tomorrow, maybe for the first time in your careers, that you'll be playing in a packed arena. 19,000 people may be cheering against you because you're in Indiana and the neutral fans may want Notre Dame to win. How does that color tomorrow's game for both of you?
MAYA MOORE: I think that something that popped in my head is something that Coach Auriemma tells us: If you want to be a championship team, you have to be able to win on the road. So that makes -- whether your fans outnumber their fans or not, you know, we should be able to win.
We've won on the road. In the Big East it's obviously one of the toughest conferences, and we played some tough road games. And we were able to figure out a way to win on the road. So we're going to take that experience with us, and know it's going to be the same basketball game. We just have to focus and play the way we always have.

Q. Lorin or Maya, why do you guys think that the coaching staff has had success with this group?
MAYA MOORE: You said why?

Q. Why. A lot of people think that Geno and his staff have done a particularly really good job with this group. And I want to get a player's opinion. What do you think it's been?
MAYA MOORE: It's been -- this has been, I think, the toughest year. Just some of the things that we made look easy the last few years have just been a struggle at times.
And just having inexperience with our freshmen, having the upperclassmen, even us, struggle a little bit with leadership at times, because we've had great leadership ever since -- you know, sophomore year, junior year, like Renee, and we had Tina leading the way inside. And it was more up to us, me, Moore, and Tiffany. Caroline is not with us either.
So it was a big challenge to see how to lead when you don't have that experience that we were used to. So our coaches really pushed us to own it. I mean, we even have these -- that's one of our team mottos, is just to own it.
I think they did a great job of just how hard they pushed us physically, too, so that we were able to be in the position that we are and able to play.
But as far as how Coach Auriemma coached is not different than any other year. He's always going to push us, challenge us, push us harder than we think we can go, attention to detail. Never satisfied with -- he's always going to be pushing.
So I don't think that was any different. But I think it took a little longer to hit our stride than it has in the past years.

Q. Maya, how does it feel winning your third national title for -- to finish off your senior year?
MAYA MOORE: Well, that would be a dream come true. That's always the goal. You know, when you're a senior you want your last game to be on a win, and winning a national championship.
So as great as it is to make it to the Final Four, I'm not satisfied. I know Lorin isn't satisfied. Until we can win a national championship, and that starts tomorrow.

Q. Just to follow up, Maya, to what you were just saying about your coach, obviously you've been with him for four years and maybe it seems like a lifetime at this point. But can you describe (laughter) -- sorry about that. Can you describe in your estimation, just following up what you were saying, what kind of coach is he? What makes him tick? Does he know how to push the right buttons to make Maya Moore go, or does he game plan so you guys walk on the court and you're just absolutely prepared and you can power and win all these games that you're winning?
MAYA MOORE: That's something that I think sets him apart, is how in tune to the team he is and to each player. It's funny, it takes you -- when you come in as a freshman, it takes you a little while to know that usually when he asks you a question he already knows the answer. But it takes about a year and a half for you to get that, because he knows what you're thinking, he knows exactly what you were doing. And it's a great teaching tool. I think that at the core of who he is, motivation and teaching are two things that I think he's a master at.
And I think we both have similar personalities as far as wanting to get every little detail right. And that's one of the things I love about him is he challenges you mentally to expand how you think, how you attack, how you approach things to do that one little extra thing. And it's great, because I love that.
I love to learn the game. I feel like -- I feel like I didn't know anything about basketball after playing with him, because he's taught me so much about how to play.
And I know why things happen now. More in high school you kind of just run around and shoot and hope it goes in. But playing for him you know why certain things happen, how it happens, whose fault it was.
It's just -- I feel so much more prepared every time I step on the court, because mentally I feel like no one has trained me better or trained our team better to play the game. And he challenges us to compete all the time, whether you're the last player coming off the bench or whether you were a National Player of the Year, he's going to challenge you to compete your tail off every practice, too.
So there's a lot that goes into it. But I've learned so much.
Coach, you're just embarrassed because I'm talking about you.

Q. Renee Montgomery has said how important her number was to her, how much she valued wearing 20 and what it meant to her identity and the whole thing. You had the opportunity to pass your number to, ironically enough, the next Naismith winner or the next WBCA winner. Has she asked you if she could wear it, and how do you feel about that? I don't know if you're superstitious. Would you be honored to have Kalana wear23? Or what's the situation with that?
MAYA MOORE: I'm kind of messing with her a little bit. I'm not giving her a straight answer. I think she wants it. She's talked about wanting to wear it. But it's to be determined. I haven't decided yet.
But she's great. She's done such a great job representing for herself, her family and for us as a future Husky. So I'm excited to see her. Once Coach gets ahold of her, I'm excited to see that whole class next year.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies. Questions for Coach.

Q. Could you just talk about Skylar Diggins a little bit and expand on what does she do well and what worries you as a coach when you play against her?
COACH AURIEMMA: Coaches love to talk about the difference in players being probably the most significant when they go from freshman year to sophomore year.
And I remember when Notre Dame came to our place last year. She was a freshman. She was completely overwhelmed by the whole atmosphere, the whole situation and wasn't able to lead her team.
And now you fast-forward to the three times that we've played them this year, and she owns their offense. She runs the show for them about as well as I've seen any guard direct Muffet's offense.
And when you have somebody that can score like she can and is unselfish, and now is confident, that makes for a tough matchup for anybody on our team.
And she's playing with a lot of confidence right now. But it's like every other player, it took a year. And now here they are.
So it's no stretch to say that they lost a lot of players to graduation last year. But Skylar's growth has contributed probably more than anything to them being here.

Q. Coach, you said early in the season that there are times when you play a team, they already lost before the game starts because they look at the jersey and see UConn and the game's over. You're playing a team for the fourth time who played you tight this year. What goes through your mind? The scouting report, obviously you've seen them enough, the players probably know everything you're going to say about them already, what goes through your mind what goes through your mind playing a team for the fourth time of the season?
COACH AURIEMMA: It depends. If the other team is lousy, it's not a problem. You would like to play them 12 times. But playing a really good team for the fourth time, that's not something that ideally you would want to be doing at this time of the year.
But I'm sure somebody is probably asking Muffet what's it like to lose to them three times and now you've got to try to beat them in the semifinals of the national championship.
So it depends what locker room you're standing in if you have a different perspective on this game. You know, we think, because we've played them three times and been successful, then there's no reason why we shouldn't be successful the fourth time.
They're probably thinking, you know, we've learned all there is to learn and this is the time when we're going to get them.
Scouting reports and all that stuff, pretty much out the window at this point in the season. I don't know that there's anything that they're going to do that's going to be significantly different. Maybe a couple of touches here and there that might be different. Same with us.
I don't think Notre Dame is going to see anything from us tomorrow that they haven't already seen in one of those three games. It might be a little different wrinkle here and there.
But it's just going to be about making plays. Is Skylar Diggins going to make enough plays. Is Maya Moore going to make enough shots. Is Stefanie going to make enough plays in the lane and is Devereaux Peters going to block enough shots and be an impact.
From the coaching standpoint, it's really not much we can do at this point. It's probably like taking horses to the Kentucky Derby, the gate opens and they start running, and let's see who wins.

Q. You are one of two coaches in this tournament that have seniors on their team that have finished every career season with a Final Four appearance. What keeps these programs so dominant, and why aren't there those underdogs in the Final Four? And what's going to take the tournament to have there be underdogs and what's going to keep your programs dominant?
COACH AURIEMMA: Well, because players get -- because they stay until they're seniors, I think the schools that recruit the best freshmen end up having the best seniors. Generally. Not always.
So you have to -- you kind of have to spread the players around, which is starting to happen a little bit. It's not going to change as quickly as some people want, because there's just probably not enough great players to go around, but you're starting to see a difference in the last 10 years of different types of programs getting better and better.
The NCAA Tournament for women, the way it's set up right now, the best teams are always going to be playing at the end. There's not going to be any upsets, very few, I should say.
And that's good and bad. Bad for those teams that want to be one of the Cinderellas. Good sometimes for the fans, because you're only going to see the best teams with the best players playing on the biggest stage.

Q. Seems like for over a decade Muffet's had to drag her team across the country to play Big East tournaments in Hartford and Storrs. And it's always sort of put up a brave face, hasn't been too successful. Do you think she's a little happy that you have to take your team across and play this game in her home state?
COACH AURIEMMA: I don't know. I've always said that when we've had the best team we've won the Big East tournament. Didn't matter whether it was in Storrs or in Rutgers or whether it was at Georgetown or Seton Hall. When we had the best team, we won it. When we didn't have the best team, we didn't win it.
I think Notre Dame's program is such that I don't know that they measure themselves any more in Big East championships or that sort of stuff.
I think getting to a Final Four and winning a national championship is probably where they're at. Being at home or being somewhat of a home game tomorrow -- I don't know, my guys don't seem to be bothered by it.
I haven't heard anybody say anything about it. I don't think that's going to be enough to get Notre Dame over the top if they don't play well. And if they play well, it doesn't matter where the game was being played, they would win.
So I don't know if the crowd's going to have that much of an impact tomorrow.

Q. Notre Dame's in the top 5 for field-goal shooting percentage. But against your team they're at about 33 percent for the three games combined. Can you talk about your defense, just what gives you the advantage in the matchup?
COACH AURIEMMA: They're one of the harder teams to play against because of that. They do shoot the ball well and they shoot it from a lot of different positions.
It's not just certain players that you've got to worry about. But we've got pretty good defenders at the positions that they like to shoot it from them. So the matchups are pretty good for us.
But not great. Don't get me wrong. We have a great defender on our team, Kelly Faris. And I wish tomorrow if she could guard Skylar Diggins and Natalie Novosel every possession, I would tell you we're going to kill them. But it's impossible for one player to guard everybody.
So something's going to give. And I think our defense is such that over a period of 40 minutes, the intensity level and the focus on what we're trying to do stays pretty constant.
So even though teams may have stretches where they shoot the ball well against us, when you add it up over 40 minutes, I think it takes its toll. And some teams, you know they'll play good defense for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes. But I've got a group right now that they're pretty good at keeping it for 40 minutes.
And the final thing is I think our offense helps our defense. Because when we're putting points on the board almost every possession or every other possession, the pressure on the other team to have to score gets greater and greater and greater, and then that makes that same 17-footer a lot tougher to make when you know you have to make it or you're down 12.
So if the score was always a one- or two-point game, I think those shots would be easier to make, but because we get people and we get them down, I just think it's a little more difficult.
I don't expect tomorrow's game to be a high-scoring offensive game, even though both are terrific offensive teams. Final Four usually doesn't lend itself to that, for whatever reason. I know we just want to get more than 12.

Q. Maya's never really, I don't think, had to sort of take over an entire game for 40 minutes and try to win it. When you get to this point would you ever tell her, hey, from the beginning win it for us, or would that put too much pressure on her or throw your offense out of whack? Would you ever tell her, hey, just take it over from the beginning and win it for us?
COACH AURIEMMA: I think she tries to do that every game. When you watch her play, you just say -- she'll come down and take shots that just drive me crazy.
You don't want to change anything you're doing at this time and say we're going to go against everything we've done and just try to rely on one person to win it for us.
But I think there are things you can do to maximize that one individual. There are things you can do within the course of your offense to get that player more shots than they normally would.
And if we had Renee Montgomery I would tell you that Maya would get 40 tomorrow. But we don't. So even if we tried to get her that many points, it would be difficult, because Bria doesn't always know where Maya is, whereas Renee did. Or Caroline did. And Bria doesn't have that.
We were practicing today and we were doing some things, and Stefanie was here and Maya was here, and you know that with one more second, just wait, Stefanie is going to set a screen and Maya's going to get a jump shot. And before that second came, Bria throws the ball to a wide-open Lorin Dixon who catches it and goes "duh." So I asked Bria, Do you know what we're trying to get here in this possession?
So those things happen a lot during the course of the game. And when Renee was here, that never happened. Never. So if we can get Bria tomorrow to just recognize and see things, Maya will probably get a lot more shots than she's been getting.

Q. Before Baylor lost to A&M, Kim Mulkey talked about her concern with freshmen playing like freshmen. Do you have those same fears when you get up in the morning that just one day they're going to act like the inexperienced players that they are?
COACH AURIEMMA: Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I think any coach that's relying on freshmen and doesn't feel that way is probably not being honest.
I come to practice every day and I just watch Bria and Stefanie and see what their body language is, how they're feeling, emotionally where are they. And no matter how much you try to prepare them for it and work on certain things and talk to them or what their teammates say to them, when the opening tip goes up at 9:30-something tomorrow night, you're going to have two kids out there that are going to be a little bit jittery.
And if they're not, then we're not going to win. So part of that is going to be normal and encouraged. But whether or not it stays throughout the game, you always worry about that. You always worry about that.
And not so much for Stefanie. I said this before. Not so much with Stefanie. But you've got to have great guard play in the NCAA Tournament.
And when you're looking at a freshman point guard, they don't know how to be great yet. I don't care how talented they are. I don't care what kind of regular season they had, they don't know how to be great.
So we'll see tomorrow. We'll see.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

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