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NCAA WOMEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: IOWA CITYMarch 25, 2013Lisa BluderMorgan JohnsonSamantha LogicIOWA CITY, IOWA COACH BLUDER: We are thrilled to be here this morning. Had the opportunity to work last night and that was a lot of fun for us. I just remind the team before we came in here about, that was a great victory last night. That is a team that beat Duke just two weeks ago, a team that beat Big Ten championship Penn State. That was a really good win for our program. Really, really happy for our seniors, proud of our basketball team but also proud of our fans. The Hawkeye fans were amazing last night. We had the third‑best attended site in America of the 16 sites. Again, it was loud in here. They were behind us. We could feel it. Their energy was wonderful, and just looking for that same type of energy and atmosphere in here again tomorrow night against Notre Dame. Q. Seven wins over ranked opponents this season, and you look at the way you finished last night, clearly when you're on, you can pretty much play with anyone. How do you bottle that and get that for 40 minutes like you'll probably need tomorrow night? SAMANTHA LOGIC: Well, I think you're going to‑‑ you know, could be the last game of your season. You don't want it to be. So if tomorrow doesn't get you up for anything, nothing really would. Playing against a team like Notre Dame, obviously a great team and nationally‑recognized for being a great team. Just you've got to be ready for it. We had nothing to lose going to this game and we are just really excited about the opportunity that we got. Q. Morgan, talk a little bit, right now Florida Gulf Coast, everybody is talking about them because they are Cinderella and they have shocking people. Do you ever think about how it might be good for your sport overall if you guys could pull off a win over Notre Dame, because people would pay attention. MORGAN JOHNSON: I think it's a great opportunity, looking at the bracket yesterday, there was just four upsets in the bracket. Just for women's basketball in general, it would just pull, draw the nation's eyes on us as a program and women's basketball in general. So it's a great opportunity for us to prove that women's basketball has something to give to this nation. Q. For either one of you guys, you're veteran players, you played AU ball at the highest levels. What's the different between the kind of elite teams, not necessarily UCONN or Notre Dame, but the teams that make it to the Sweet16 and make it to the Elite 8 and teams that just get in the tournament, what is that next step? What do you see in those teams that are not there? SAMANTHA LOGIC: I would say playing for 40 minutes. You have to be able to play 40 minutes. In a tournament, obviously it's March Madness and anything can happen. You have to be ready for 40 minutes of basketball, and you have to put your best game on, otherwise, you can go home. We have seen it in the men's tournament, two seeds have been knocked out and one seed has been knocked out, so you just have to be ready and take every possession like it's the most important one. MORGAN JOHNSON: I think we are consistent in fundamentals all the time. They don't have to worry about boxing out because that is something that's a sustained thing through their entire season. So just having those fundamentals consistently are important to get them to the next level so they can focus on other things. Q. Morgan, there's a difference in the rebounding numbers; can you talk about how important the rebounding will be for you and how do you close those numbers out? MORGAN JOHNSON: I think we just have to execute on boxing out, and I know that's really always the answer, but going after the boards after you box out and just being consistent with that and not having them let out, coming out straight out the gate and letting them know we are here to battle and we are going out on the floor with everything we have. Q. Sam, Notre Dame is a team that scored almost a hundred points the other day. Do you want to play an up‑and‑down game with them or try to slow it down? SAMANTHA LOGIC: Well, I think we just have to play in control with whatever we do. We are going to look to push when we can. You can't force anything too much against them. Can't give them any extra opportunities. But I mean, if we can push, we would like to. But you just have to be controlled, make them work. Got to score within two, obviously; they can put up big numbers. Q. You pride yourself on having balance on the team and you look at Notre Dame and they have players like Skylar and Jewell Lloyd, a freshman. How do you have to counter their balance, as well? Seems that's going to be definitely a challenge. MORGAN JOHNSON: I think that we just have to be‑‑ everyone has to be on point. There can't be any let ups with who is on the floor. Just continuing to move people in and out of the rotation with flawlessness and just everyone being on point, because all of them are good. They play for Notre Dame and so all of them have the ability to score and do good things. Q. In recent years, has there been a women's basketball upset that you guys remember or that you kind of followed or got into it at all? SAMANTHA LOGIC: No, not that I remember. I think it's a huge deal, even when a No.1 gets knocked out, even if it's by a No.2, which technically isn't that huge of an upset. The last two years have been the same through No.1 seeds with those four teams up there. It does not happen very often in women's, and I think I was telling somebody before, maybe Coach, but we need a little more 'Madness' in women's basketball, too, so why not start with us. Q. Seeing stuff on tape, what makes you think you can win this game? MORGAN JOHNSON: To be honest, I think we just have the ability to turn it on when we play good teams. We normally play at the level of competition, and if that happens that's going to be awesome for us. I just think that we have this belief inside of us that we can do anything and that we can win this game, and I think that is just belief in ourselves and in our program. It really just gives us the ability to do amazing things. Q. Going with the same thing, how big or how good for women's basketball would you guys be winning Tuesday? COACH BLUDER: Well, I think it would be tremendous. Obviously for our program it would be amazing. It would help in a variety of ways, but also I do think it would be great for the sport of women's basketball. I think people want the upsets. People get excited about the Florida Gulf Coasts and why not let them get excited about the Iowa Hawkeyes after tomorrow night. Q. Can you talk about dealing with Notre Dame's balance offensively? And is there a certain area you want them to shoot from? Do you want them to take a lot of three‑pointers? COACH BLUDER: It's impressive, their balance is something I really love because it's something we try to stress in our basketball team and I think all good basketball teams have that balance, have that inside‑outside attack. But yeah, we would love to force them to take more outside shots. Yesterday I think they had 56 paint points, and it's hard to win a game when you're giving up that many high‑percentage shots. Q. Their only loss was at home against Baylor, so they have not lost on the road, beat Connecticut twice at their place, at Tennessee. You're hosting; how do you make it tough for Notre Dame to play here? Seems they are not rattled on the road, so how do you try to get them rattled tomorrow? COACH BLUDER: Every streak comes to an end sometime. They have won 27 in a row and that has got to get boring, doesn't it, for them? So you know maybe they will take it for granted. Maybe they will be in a situation where, you know, they are highly favored‑‑ there's nobody in America that's betting on the Iowa Hawkeyes except for those women that are in that basketball locker room right now. But I told them, there's going to be a lot of people cheering for them and behind them to win this game, because I think everybody would like to see an upset like that. Q. They will go on a run and a spurt, and the teams that can stay competitive seem to handle it better. How do you go about that, as far as time‑outs or whatever, trimming down a big run by Notre Dame? COACH BLUDER: Well, you only have so many time‑outs that you can use. Yes, that's the first thing you think of. But also, I think changing up your defense, trying to change the looks that they are getting through changing your defense has got to be the next thing, because you can't just keep burning time‑outs. You're going to run out of those. Hopefully get a spark like Melissa provided for us last night and getting the crowd into the game through our own offensive production would also be really good. Q. Can you talk about the rebounding and just how critical of an area that will be tomorrow night? COACH BLUDER: We talked about that with our team and it is really one of the keys in my opinion, because Notre Dame is such a good rebounding team and they have a lot of people that hit the boards. Last night, we didn't do a very good job on the rebound, but it didn't hurt us, because they didn't make us pay for them. Tomorrow, Notre Dame is quite capable of making us pay for them. And so we have got to make a conscious effort of boxing out, getting a body on somebody. You know, last night, Wilson was a load to box out. She had us out‑weighed by a lot and she was a tough, tough person to box out, and give her the credit for doing a great job in there. Q. What's the difference between, say, a team‑‑ it's the same thing I asked these kids, between a team that makes the NCAA maybe or is on the verge of making the NCAA, and the teams like Notre Dame that are sort of perennial Sweet16 kind of teams, not necessarily like the elite teams, but that just can make that extra step. What do you have to do to make that extra step? COACH BLUDER: I think it's consistency all year long, because if you're consistent all year long, then you tend to get those top four seeds, and we all know if we have those top four seeds, our ability to advance in the NCAA Tournament is a lot stronger, a lot more likely. So I think just having that consistent play all year long gets you the higher RPI and will get you the easier seed and get you the easier pass to the Sweet16. Notre Dame certainly has that. I think that you have to have consistently, in not only your wins, but I mean, they just score at an unbelievable rate and they defend, too. So having both sides of that is excellent. They just have so many different people that can score. But in my opinion, it's just having that consistent output all year long in the win/loss column. Q. What did it mean last night for you guys to win first time in a couple years in an NCAA Tournament game, but winning an NCAA Tournament game here at home, what did it mean for you and the team? COACH BLUDER: And winning it big, too, that was pretty fun as well. Having the opportunity to be able to enjoy the last couple of minutes and not sit on pins and needles, but to enjoy it. It meant a lot to our players. Our seniors, again, it gives them another opportunity to wear the Hawkeye uniform and play in Carver‑Hawkeye Arena, and again, last night proved to us and Hawkeye fans that we can do that. Q. If you're looking for the upset tomorrow night, how big a role will three‑point shooting play? COACH BLUDER: Well, I think that we are going to have to find a way to score with them. They just are explosive offensively, and so we have got to knock down shots.  We have got to hit those threes tomorrow. It's important for us to be able to do that and we have to force them into taking more contested shots. If they get those type of paint points‑‑ yes, they are going to take some threes and they are definitely going to make some threes, they have some good three point shooters, but we would rather have them shooting from there with a hand in the face than in the paint right now. Q. We talked about the good of the game and the good of the women's game. Skylar has 300,000 Twitter followers, more than any male or female college athlete. How has she been an ambassador to the women's game? COACH BLUDER: She's been a terrific ambassador. She's been the face of women's basketball this year. It's great that we get that kind of coverage and that we have somebody that embraces that role. You know, she's a tremendous player, but she also seems like she's a really cool kid and a good human being and she's embraced that role of being that star power for women's basketball this year. I think she has more security here than Barack Obama when he comes, and that's okay for us, because we need somebody like that in women's basketball. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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