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NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: LOUISVILLEMarch 29, 2014Lexie BrownBrenda FreseLaurin MincyAlyssa ThomasLOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY BRENDA FRESE: Obviously excited to be here in the great state of Kentucky. I think it's really interesting obviously to be here in Louisville with us exiting the ACC and as Louisville enters. However it shakes out, obviously we are going to hand off our ACC banner to the Louisville folks. Even though this is our third‑straight year in the Sweet 16, it's something that we never take for granted. Obviously it's extremely hard to be able to get here. When you look at the four teams that are here, what you see is a lot of programs in women's basketball with a ton of history and a lot of success. Tennessee being our next opponent is right there at the top tied with Connecticut with the most national championships, a program with incredible tradition. We haven't played them since 2005, but we've seen many of their players out on the recruiting trails. Holly has done a terrific job. I can't say enough, in terms of the right person for the job. Tennessee is really an extremely athletic team with a ton of depth. I think you'll see with both teams a lot of similar tendencies. Both teams want to rebound extremely hard. Both teams are very up‑tempo and have a lot of depth. Both teams are led, I think it's ironic, by the ACC/SEC Player of the Year and both have freshmen point guards leading the way. As far as I know I don't think anyone is picking us to be able to win this game, so we're just going to come out and obviously play extremely loose. I love where our team is at, how we're playing, playing some of our best basketball at the moment. Q. Is there anything you take from the last two appearances in the Sweet 16 that you can apply to this time, particularly being able to beat A&M two years ago? BRENDA FRESE: You know, first and foremost, I think it's important for your team, especially when you talk about your young players that we have on our squad in terms of being able to experience these moments and to be able to get to a Sweet 16, and if you're fortunate to be able to advance. I think the biggest thing we've talked about to our team is minimizing distractions. You have a lot going on, a lot more media requests, and so for us just really narrowing the focus to us and really preparing for our moment and what we can do. Q. Holly, when asked about who would guard Alyssa Thomas, named five different players, two point guards, a post, a couple of forwards. Just how varied have defenses been against her, and what gimmicks, if any, have teams tried? BRENDA FRESE: Yeah, obviously I'm sure it's by committee. It's a whole team. You can imagine with Alyssa in her four years, she's seen everything. She's seen man, zone, box‑and‑one, two players running at her, teams game plan to be ultra‑physical, just anything and everything you can expect in her career she's seen. Hopefully I would think at this stage that she would be ready for it. Q. Can you talk about how your freshmen have developed this year and how much of a contribution, how helpful that's been for you? BRENDA FRESE: Yeah, you know, I think when they came in in the summer, we saw really special group in terms of the freshmen, how quickly they were able to pick up on our plays and different things out there. But when you talk about Lexie and Brionna starting for us as freshmen and giving us an inside‑outside presence, and then you talk about Shatori Walker‑Kimbrough coming off the bench and being second in scoring on our team. So all three are really dynamic, have had a huge impact on this team, and obviously we're thrilled for their future, what they're going to be able to be asked after Alyssa graduates, to be able to bring to the table. Q. Having been both a favorite and an underdog, is there a different approach depending on what side of the ledger you fall ongoing into any particular game? BRENDA FRESE: There really isn't. I think it's more based on your team's mentality in terms of how do they handle being the underdog, how do they handle it in terms of the different seeds. You know, I think really every team is unique, and it's really in terms of how they are able to handle what expectations are placed on them. Q. Certainly this game is more than just about two players, but can you talk about the appreciation of seeing Simmons and Thomas on the floor at the same time tomorrow? BRENDA FRESE: Yeah, you know, like I spoke of earlier, pretty neat dynamic when you talk about the ACC Player of the Year and the SEC Player of the Year in two powerful conferences. Obviously what each one of them has meant to their respective programs, what they've brought to the table in their four years, obviously from both ends their ability to score the basketball, the ability to be able to get others involved, and I mean, obviously two incredible players that are seniors, that one is going to be able to advance and the other one's senior season will be complete. Q. Of course you already know they're probably going to be a lot of Tennessee fans here tomorrow. How have you prepared them for that? They've been in hostile environments such as Duke and Carolina, but your familiarity with Tennessee from years ago, what's the biggest challenge when you go into an environment like that when you face a team like Tennessee with a big following? BRENDA FRESE: Yeah, you think there will be a few fans here? No, we're excited about it. You embrace it. You want to play in front of fans instead of an empty arena. From our end, yesterday we piped in "Rocky Top" and allowed our players to‑‑ some of them hadn't even heard "Rocky Top", so to be able to get used to it, and then of course our Maryland fight song so they would know back and forth what this is going to look like. Our conference prepares us for tough environments. Our staff I think does a really good job in terms of just preparing them for what this is going to be like, and obviously if you're in the Sweet 16 and you're not prepared for this moment, then you'll probably be going home. Our kids fully know what it's going to look like and feel like. Q. Did you have it on a continuous loop or did you have to stop and explain what the song meant to them? BRENDA FRESE: It was on a loop, but I heard later through some quotes that I saw that even our senior Alicia DeVaughn wasn't even sure. But she was used to‑‑ we've done this before in terms of different teams that we face. But I guess you liken it, as well, to last year when we played UConn up in Bridgeport, and that was definitely filled with a lot of Connecticut fans. So the fact that our team has experienced this before I think is key. Q. When you were recruiting Thomas, did you envision her becoming this versatile and this great a player? BRENDA FRESE: Well, you know, it's one of the best recruiting stories, probably one of the best decisions I've ever made in recruiting. A lot of staffs went out to USA Basketball and followed a lot of players, and I decided to go up to a local Battle of the Baltimore Tournament to be able to go check out this Alyssa Thomas that we had heard great things about. You know, from the minute I saw her in the lay‑up line and you saw those big shoulders and her size and her strength and her speed, we did envision one day her name and her number being up in the rafters. I think kind of the greatest thing about Alyssa, though, is how humble she has stayed throughout all of it and just how she's never satisfied with her game. She's always wanting to get better, wanting to improve, and really the versatility that she has, has played every single position in her four years and has done anything that we've asked her to for this program. Q. As a follow‑up, what things do you see her do that reinforce your belief or your feeling that I'm glad she's on our side? Is there any one thing that really stands out that continues to improve you? BRENDA FRESE: Well, first of all, I'm going to petition the NCAA to get her a fifth year and to be able to bring her back. You know, I mean, when you see plays we'll see in practice and then in games where she'll rebound the ball and throw it the length of the floor on a dime, like the basketball is like a dime‑‑ a nickel or a dime in her hand, she's just so strong. You saw her get it off the glass, and I liken her in our transition game to LeBron. Like who would want to step in and take a charge off of that, and with her speed and power coming down the floor in transition, I'm not sure there's another player in the country that can come at that pace that she's able to do. Just so many things that she's able to do that you have to appreciate that we've been given in these last four years. Q. You had alluded to your team's mentality a little earlier. What is the mentality of this team given the particular makeup of veterans and freshmen? BRENDA FRESE: Well, you know, I'm excited by the fact that I really feel like we are playing some of our best basketball, and I think it's a group that is really confident and really believes in each other, and I think when you look at our last game with Texas and you see Alyssa scoreless in the first half, which I can't ever remember happening in her career, our team didn't miss a beat. They weren't concerned. There wasn't any kind of anxiety. Earlier in the season there would have been that case. I do like the fact that I feel like we are peaking at the right time, and we're really playing for each other. Q. Alyssa, your take on the number of people in any one game that can cover you; how have you adapted to that and sometimes being double‑ or triple‑teamed? ALYSSA THOMAS: I expect it. But with the team that we have and the scorers that we have, it takes it hard to just focus on one person. Q. Any of the players, your coach was just in here saying that she was playing "Rocky Top" I guess at practice this week. What was that experience like? Did there have to be some explanation as to what was going on there? LEXIE BROWN: Well, yeah, of course I was the first one to be like why is this music playing? She was just trying to simulate the type of environment we're going to be in tomorrow just with a lot of noise and a lot of Tennessee fans. LAURIN MINCY: To piggyback on Lexie, it was obviously very different. But Coach B was just getting us prepared. Tennessee is going to have a lot of fans here, so we just have to be ready and keep the noise off. ALYSSA THOMAS: I think it was the first time any of us heard that song, and just like they said, they were just simulating what it's going to be like. Q. Alyssa, is there anything you can take from the last two Sweet 16 trips that you can apply this time around, particularly being able to beat A&M two years ago? ALYSSA THOMAS: Yeah, it takes a team effort. You've got to come out from the start and play your best game, and most importantly stick together. Hopefully good things come out of it. Q. Alyssa, as the season has gone along, have teams tried to be more physical with you? ALYSSA THOMAS: Absolutely. They try to be extremely physical, try to take me out of my game, and just really eliminate me from moving around out there. Q. Alyssa, what was your familiarity with SEC‑style ball before this, and can you talk a little bit about what the addition of Syracuse and Pittsburgh in the ACC, what they brought there, speaking of physicality, how much that has helped you or how you've adjusted to that? ALYSSA THOMAS: Yeah, SEC, just what I've seen, very physical teams, very high‑energy teams, a lot of great players come out of the SEC. And then as far as Syracuse and Pitt, they've just elevated the ACC. They're both teams that have really come in and played hard and just added to the ACC. Q. Laurin, we've seen you shoot the three, score a bunch of points in many different games, but just your thoughts on defense and how important that is to you and where that stands in terms of how you like to approach the game. LAURIN MINCY: I think just defense is ‑‑ just play your part. I always look forward to guarding the best player on the team, and I think we're just going to come out and it's going to be a team effort on defense and also on the rebounding battle. Q. Laurin and Lexie, Coach Frese talked about how fast and strong Alyssa is and how she didn't think anybody would want to take a charge from her. Have you ever taken a charge from her in practice? LAURIN MINCY: No. LEXIE BROWN: No. We know better. We save that for the opponents. (Laughter). Q. Have any of you tried to charge against her in practice, and what's that like? LEXIE BROWN: Like hitting a brick wall. LAURIN MINCY: She'll try and block you before she takes a charge. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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