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PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2012Brittany BoydGennifer BrandonLindsay GottliebLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA California – 64 THE MODERATOR: Coach, some opening remarks, please? COACH GOTTLIEB: Thank you. Thank you all for being here. Your coverage is really important to us. First thing I'd like to do is credit a Washington State team that not only gave us an absolute battle today but has had a terrific run in the tournament. June Daugherty is one of the people in coaching that's reached out to me personally and been a mentor, but also does so many good things for the women's game. I think that group of seniors that went to Washington State maybe before that was something that you were supposed to do is pretty impressive. Jazmine Perkins is a Berkeley kid and April Cook. I just really commend them on finishing their careers. And their impact that they're going to have on that program is really lasting. So just wanted to say that first. Very excited to be coaching our group tomorrow in the championship game. I thought we responded really well coming out of the halftime. I asked them to get a little tougher or a lot tougher on the defensive end and to be more patient at the same time on the offensive end. I thought shooting 58% in the second half and getting some critical stops, they really did that. We're really good when we're playing with a lot of energy, and I thought in a very short prep for Washington State, we were able to take away some of their looks. Our big players made plays. Brittany and Gen in particular really like space. They like to make plays in space, and they found those gaps. When I see a look in both of their eyes, sometimes it's a toughness look, and sometimes it's a smile. But when I know they're right there locked in, we're tough to beat. So I thought it was a really good team effort today. Second day in a row, we had four people in double figures, and just excited to be representing the University of California in the championship game tomorrow. Q. Lindsay, can you talk about the match‑up with Stanford? You've led them twice this year, and you took them to overtime once, and they got you pretty good the other time. What do you have to do to be in that game tomorrow? COACH GOTTLIEB: I don't get to enjoy it for 30 seconds before talking about Stanford? They're so good. They're really a terrific basketball team. I thought at their place I thought we were able to kind of control the tempo and maybe at times get them back on their heels and be the aggressors. At our place, they came out and shot the ball so well. When you have the best post players in the country and then you're going to knock down shots, it gave them some separation that kind of put us in desperation mode a little bit. So hopefully, we can come out, get stops early, and control the tempo of the game a little bit better. I certainly have some good film to look at from a week ago, and we will be better. I just think they're a terrific team, but I think our players are real competitors and we're going to make some adjustments and hopefully come out and do a lot of things better tomorrow. Q. What does your rebounding differential equate to in this game? Did that margin enable you to cancel out the 25 turnovers? Did the rebounding advantage please you as much as the turnovers displeased you? COACH GOTTLIEB: I think it's a real luxury as a coach to be able to look at them in March and say the rebounding thing is part of our identity. That people aren't going to be able to game plan for that. When you come into a win‑or‑go‑home game and say do what we do on the boards, that's a real factor for us. Obviously, making a lot of shots on our end and holding them to a low percentage is going to help that differential. They only had 17 defensive rebounds partly that's because we shot a high percentage, but partly because we're giving 17 offensive rebounds, giving ourselves second chances. That's become part of what we do. If you break down and analyze our team, it's one of the reasons that we win a lot of games. I don't think any of us, especially not Brittany over there, is happy about the 25 turnovers. But I think you can handle something like that when we're able to limit them to one shot and get multiple attempts on the other end. Q. Talia, for some reason it seemed like Washington was making a run and all of the sudden you started going to her and she threw three baskets in a row. Tell me about that? COACH GOTTLIEB: Yeah, Talia, we really trust our entire post group. When you can bring in four different people, sometimes they match up differently, sometimes can you put them in different situations, but we made a concerted effort in the second half to get the ball inside until they did a great job of keeping them on her high side. Brittany found her a couple times on those lob plays and she finished. It's not something that we don't expect, and that's a good feeling. But she really finished it, and I thought Reshanda came in and made some critical ones as well. But we want to go inside. Obviously Washington State's defense tries to extend you, and you can do that off the bounce. Brittany and Layshia and Eliza are picking them apart that way, or you can do it straight off post‑entry passes; and we just look to do that in a concerted‑effort kind of way coming out of the locker room at halftime. Q. Coach, you more than doubled them in rebounds and then there were the turnovers and they doubled you in steals. A lot of that can be fixed emotionally. Do you have one or two emotional leaders, or was there one today, if you didn't have one? And what is that single season rebounding record that Gennifer just broke? COACH GOTTLIEB: What are the numbers? Ashley Walker had 317 a couple years back, and Gen got 319. Just to speak to that for a minute, Ashley, I still talk to Ashley all the time. She's one of my favorite people and players of all time. But she probably played 38 minutes a game that year. I think it speaks to the depth of our team. Our players just want to win games. Gen plays 25 minutes and she's going to try to be as productive in those minutes. She's an absolute monster on the glass. When she wants to do that, I don't know if there's anyone that can keep her away from doing that. So I think it's a pretty remarkable stat given the depth that we have, and that everyone's willingness to play whatever role we ask them to play. The emotional leader thing, I think we have a really neat balance on our team of youthful energy, swagger, sometimes not knowing exactly what's supposed to happen next, in a good way and veteran calmer players. So I think at different times we need different things. No one on our team wants to turn the ball over there. They're really competitive. And Washington State, that's their defense. They do that. I think it was really collective thing that we decided we have to be more patient on offense, but be tougher and not turn the ball over anymore. Obviously, Brittany kick starts that with us. This is the type of game we need the ball in her hands because of her decision making ability. And other people play different defenses and we want Layshia because she's a kind of steady presence as well. So we feel like we have multiple people with the ball in their hands that we feel very confident with. Q. Gennifer, what makes a good rebounder and why do you excel so much in that aspect of your game? GENNIFER BRANDON: I would say the main thing that makes me a good rebounder is a person's determination to want the ball for their team. Yeah, that's about it. Just determination to go get the ball. Like some people are good with just jumping and snatching it, and some people use techniques like boxing out. So it's determination and hard working to after the ball in any way you can. Q. Can you talk a little more about Washington State team that you faced today? They came in after making an incredible run this weekend. Did you see that they had more confidence than when you played with them during the season or were they the same team? BRITTANY BOYD: I think they were kind of more the same team. But as they got into the tournament, I feel like their confidence went up a little because they were a winning team. And their energy level, I have to respect their energy level and how they came out at halftime and before the game. So I just think that their confidence was really high. GENNIFER BRANDON: Piggy backing off what she said, Pac‑12, the Tournament, I don't think any team would be the same team because they're more determined and they know they only get one chance. If they don't get it, then they're knocked out. So every team comes in with this fiery determination to want to win something, I guess, bigger than the Pac‑12 conference, regular season conference. Q. There were great expectations for your junior and senior class, one of the top recruiting classes in the country. To some degree they underperformed expectations for a couple years. Not that they did badly, just not as well as they could. Now you've gone through a coaching change. You're first year as head coach of this program, lost one of your key players, and you've brought them to a whole new level in terms of performance being here in the finals. Can you talk about what, if you were to point to two or three things that were the dynamic that caused this team to gel and perform at this level? COACH GOTTLIEB: Yeah, when I was hired in the spring, I met with each of them individually, not really talking about skill sets or X's and O's, just to spend time with them. Almost to a person in their different ways with different personalities, they said we want to cheer for each other. We want to be great. We want to do things that special teams do. I knew right then that my job was just to take an incredibly talented and passionate group of individuals and hopefully get them to where they want to be as a collective unit. And we did work on that. In the fall we spent a lot of time on what we call our core foundation. Who we are, what we do, how we go about doing it, so that when January and February came, we could say‑‑ let's say we lost the game, we need to play better transition defense, or we need to set better screens. Not who are we and what are we about? They have bought into that. They love each other. They love being around each other. They have great energy. They play really hard. I think sometimes that kind of thing maybe transcends just a group of talented players. In addition to that, and I was very aware of how they did in the past. We have more depth this year. We have a true point guard. Eliza and Layshia were playing a lot on the ball last year. Now I can move them off the ball from a technical standpoint. And Gennifer Brandon didn't play last year and there wasn't a four post presentation. So from a tactical spot I like our pieces. From an emotional spot, this team was ready to gel and just be better than what they might be able to show with accolades from high school. Q. Brittany, Gen had her stat and record, but you were one assist away from a triple‑double. So across the line there, which of those categories were you most proud of for this game? BRITTANY BOYD: I would have to say my assists because I like feeding the ball to the post and the wings. But the ratio right now, the 9 to 8 is not really what I'm happy about. But I would have to say my assists overall. So, yeah. COACH GOTTLIEB: We're going to look through that film and find the one assist that should have been, and feel have Brittany duke it out with that person. Q. Brittany and Gennifer, can you talk about what you guys feel like you need to do better than the last time you played Stanford to get over the hump against them? BRITTANY BOYD: Yeah, I just think it's focusing in and doing the coach's game plan and following and trusting in their game plan. Just playing hard. It's the championship, and I believe that we're going to bring it and Stanford's going to bring it. So just play hard. Yeah, go on with the game plan and focusing in. GENNIFER BRANDON: Yeah, I would say we need to stay together and work hard, like Brittany was saying and follow the scouting report that the coaches give us, because they're obviously intelligent or they wouldn't have the job that they have.  So, yeah, just stay together and work hard for the common goal. Q. Do you have confidence that you can beat them? GENNIFER BRANDON: Heck, yeah. I don't know about the Lakers, but, yeah. Q. Gennifer, can you explain why you make those little alterations to your uniform, what that means, the shoulder and the tag? GENNIFER BRANDON: It's a fashion statement. Just kidding. I do it just to be comfortable in my uniform. Yeah, I don't know. It's just to be comfortable. I roll my shorts because I don't like them to touch my knees. I roll my‑‑ I just don't like to feel clothes, if that doesn't sound weird, but, yeah. I try to fold it tight as I can to feel like I'm running with the wind. Q. Running with the wind? GENNIFER BRANDON: Yeah (laughing). Q. Your coach talked about one of the first things you did was finding your identity. I'd like to ask the players, who is or are Cal basketball? BRITTANY BOYD: Who is? We are. COACH GOTTLIEB: Like some characteristics, maybe. BRITTANY BOYD: Confident. I would say we're a very confident team. Relentless. It's a lot to describe. It's hard to choose one word or a couple words. There are a lot of things to describe us, because we all bring in different things and we all share different personalities. So it's a lot. But it's all positive, yes. GENNIFER BRANDON: Yeah, I would say relentlessness, like Brittany. Just staying as a family, working together. Never back down or give up. That's about it, yeah. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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